A Brush Prairie woman who was driving drunk when she crashed into a tree and injured her passenger will serve 29 days on a work crew, court records show.
Kia M. Halsey, 23, pleaded guilty Thursday in Clark County Superior Court to driving under the influence and fourth-degree assault in connection with the Jan. 13, 2016, crash. She was originally charged with vehicular assault. However, the charge was amended in exchange for her guilty plea.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Vancouver police were dispatched at about 3:20 a.m. to the intersection of Southeast 172nd Avenue and First Street for a single-vehicle crash. Officers found a car had crashed into a tree, and the driver and passenger were outside the vehicle.
The passenger, Josue Valdez, 32, was bleeding from his face and taken to a hospital for treatment. Police later learned his nose was broken, the affidavit states.
Halsey told police she had been driving and turned east onto First Street from northbound 172nd Avenue. In the middle of her turn, she saw another vehicle driving toward them on First Street. She tried to speed up, she said, but lost control of the vehicle and rammed into the tree, court records said.
Police said they smelled alcohol coming from Halsey and noticed signs of impairment. Halsey admitted to drinking two glasses of champagne about four hours before the crash, according to the affidavit. A preliminary breath test estimated she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.105 percent. Two additional breath tests administered at the Clark County Jail found Halsey had a blood-alcohol level of 0.089 percent and 0.091 percent, court documents state. In Washington, a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent or more is considered evidence of drunken driving.
On Thursday, Halsey was sentenced to 364 days with 334 days suspended for two years. She was given credit for one day in custody, court records show.
–Jessica Prokop
