Woman admits to DUI crash that injured teen
NORRISTOWN » A Salford Township woman potentially faces prison time after she admitted to driving under the influence of illegal drugs and causing a crash that seriously injured a teenage boy who was a passenger in her car.
Karleen Elizabeth Okoh, 33, of the first block of Highview Drive, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to charges of aggravated assault by a vehicle while driving under the influence of controlled substances and driving under the influence of controlled substances in connection with the Nov. 27, 2016, one-vehicle crash in the 300 block of Ridge Road in Salford.
Judge Gary S. Silow deferred sentencing until a later date. Okoh was remanded to the county jail without bail to await her sentencing hearing.
Okoh faces a possible maximum sentence of 7½ to 15 years in prison on the charges. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.
Okoh, who is represented by defense lawyer Keith Harbison, also will undergo an evaluation to determine if she is eligible for the state Department of Corrections’ Intermediate Punishment Program. Under the intermediate punishment program, defendants normally serve several months in state prison and institutional drug and alcohol treatment programs before being placed in community-based treatment programs.
An investigation began about 2:12 p.m. when state police at Skippack responded to the 300 block of Ridge Road in Salford for a report of a one-vehicle crash with injuries. Arriving officers found a white Chevrolet Impala sedan with heavy front end damage in the front yard of a residence where it came to rest after apparently leaving the roadway, according to the criminal complaint.
Okoh, identified as the driver, sustained a laceration to her forehead and a 15 year old boy who was seated in the front passenger seat was unconscious “with severe lacerations and swelling to his face and chest,” state police Trooper Richard Sanzick alleged in the arrest affidavit. The teenager was extracted from the vehicle and airlifted to Lehigh Valley Hospital Cedar Crest.
The teenager “was treated for head and eye injuries and he remained hospitalized for several weeks with serious injuries including fractures to his skull and vision loss,” police alleged in the arrest affidavit.
Okoh was transported to the same hospital by emergency medical officials.
While canvassing the
vehicle, police observed an open purse that contained a plastic cylinder containing various pills and a small metal cylinder that contained a brown, powdery substance, according to the criminal complaint. Police also observed a scale in the purse.
Okoh refused to consent to testing of her blood by police, court papers indicate.
But police said a nurse assigned to care for Okoh told investigators that Okoh admitted to using heroin. Okoh allegedly told the nurse that “she uses three times a day and can use up to five bags at a time,” according to the arrest affidavit. The nurse related that he observed “track marks consistent with heroin use on Okoh,” police alleged.
During the investigation, a witness to the crash told police she was traveling directly behind Okoh’s Impala traveling southbound on Ridge Road when she observed the Impala drift off the roadway and into a ditch before crossing a driveway and striking several fence posts, according to the arrest affidavit.
The other driver stopped at the scene and attempted to assist and “observed a fence post inside the vehicle resting on the shoulder of the passenger and observed him to be bleeding and have serious injuries to his head,” court documents indicate.
During the investigation, police obtained medical records that showed the presence of various drugs in Okoh’s bloodstream, including the narcotic fentanyl and xylazine, which “is used as a veterinary sedative, analgesic and anesthetic in large animals,” according to the criminal complaint.