Milwaukee fatal crash, woman accused of driving drunk
Ayanna Swiams
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee woman is accused of driving drunk and causing a fiery crash that killed a man on the city's north side last month.
In court:
Prosecutors charged 27-year-old Ayanna Swiams with three felonies, including second-degree reckless homicide. Court records indicate she's being held in the Milwaukee County Jail on $100,000 cash bond.
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60th and Hampton crash | April 19
The backstory:
Two cars, a silver Buick and a white Mazda, were involved in the crash. A criminal complaint said damage to the Buick was so significant, the driver's side was crushed entirely into the passenger-side compartment. The Mazda sustained significant front-end damage.
Surveillance video showed the Buick was headed west on Hampton Avenue, had the green light and began to pull into the intersection when the Mazda – speeding north on 60th Street – ran a red light and smashed into the Buick, according to the complaint. The Buick's undercarriage became engulfed in flames seconds after impact.
60th and Hampton, Milwaukee
Dig deeper:
Milwaukee police said the 31-year-old driver of the Buick, identified in court filings as Deandre Gladney, died at a hospital. The medical examiner's office determined he suffered multiple blunt force injuries.
The complaint said Swiams, the driver of the Mazda, was "off-balance…slurring her words and making incoherent statements" at the crash scene. She was taken to a hospital with injuries of her own, where prosecutors said she confirmed she was driving the Mazda. The car was registered in her name.
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Hospital staff took a blood sample from Swiams, court filings said. Investigators sent that sample to a Wisconsin State Crime Lab, where a toxicologist determined her BAC was 0.215 – more than double the legal limit.
Data from Swiam's car showed she was driving 72 mph less than a second before impact. The speed limit where the crash happened is 30 mph.
The Source: Information in this story is from the Milwaukee Police Department, Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office and Wisconsin Circuit Court.