Police: Man charged in Lexington crash that killed teen siblings was very intoxicated
A man charged with manslaughter after a fatal accident that killed teen siblings had a blood-alcohol content nearly three times higher than the legal limit, a Lexington police officer said in court Wednesday.
Nicholas Gray, an officer with the Lexington Police Department, testified in court Wednesday that Zachary Smith had a blood-alcohol content of 0.229 percent when he took an intoxilyzer test. The legal limit is 0.08 percent.
“In the vehicle that Mr. Smith was driving, we located several open alcohol containers.,” Gray said during his court testimony.
Hailey Smith, 16, was driving her brother, Andrew Smith, 19, on Athens Boonesboro Road near Skyview Lane when Zachary Smith, heading the opposite direction, crossed over the center line and hit their vehicle head-on, police said. The teens, who are not related to Zachary Smith, died at the scene, police said.
Smith, 30, has been charged with two counts of manslaughter and driving under the influence, according to court records.
Gray, who arrived at the accident scene after the suspect had already been detained, said that Smith told police he was trying to get to a gas station farther down the road. Gray said that Smith may have believed he was getting into the turn lane to go to that gas station.
Neither Smith’s SUV nor the siblings’ Mazda Protégé made any evasive maneuvers, Gray testified. He said police hadn’t determined the speed of the vehicles, but it “doesn’t appear that it’s going to be a factor at this time.”
Smith’s attorney, Lindsey Perdue, asked Fayette District Judge Bruce Bell to consider lowering Smith’s bail, but Bell declined. Smith’s bond was set at $50,000 for the manslaughter charges and $5,000 for the DUI charge, according to court records. Bell also waived the case to a grand jury, with Perdue declining to object.
Smith remained in the Lexington-Fayette County Detention Center Wednesday morning.
The victims’ mother, Brandy Workman, said the siblings were on their way to her house to celebrate Andrew’s birthday. Andrew was a recent graduate of Bryan Station High School who worked at Bluegrass Station, and Hailey was the mother of a 1-year-old daughter.
A GoFundMe page was set up to raise money for funeral expenses and Hailey’s daughter.
Workman said she wanted to see Zachary Smith face more severe charges.
“He didn’t mean to murder my kids, but he meant to get behind that wheel knowing it was against the law in so many ways,” Workman said.
This story was originally published January 20, 2021 at 10:29 AM.