LEWIS RUN — The Pittsburgh woman who authorities say caused the two-vehicle crash in which four people, including herself, were killed in April was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of the crash, state police report.
According to a report released Thursday by Lewis Run-based state police, at 7:55 a.m. April 27, Ashley Smith, 30, was driving a Nissan Pathfinder north on U.S. Route 219 near Town Line Road in Hamlin Township. The sport-utility vehicle was in the left passing lane when it traveled across the double yellow line into the southbound lane.
A truck driven by Michael Clawson, 36, of Mount Jewett, was traveling south. The two vehicles were swerved to avoid a collision, but both swerved the same way and collided head-on.
The impact caused both vehicles to go airborne. The SUV overturned and landed upright on the west side of the road facing north. The truck traveled clockwise, coming to rest in the southbound lane facing northwest.
Smith and three passengers — Teonna Herring, 31, of Pittsburgh, and Smith’s stepchildren, Lonnie, 12, and Alonna, 9 — were all killed in the crash.
Clawson was seriously injured.
Police said toxicology tests were performed on Smith, and results were just received from the state Department of Health, Bureau of Laboratories, which show she was “under the influence of a combination of alcohol and drugs at the time of the crash.”
According to FCI-McKean Warden Bradley Trate, Smith was traveling to the federal prison to visit a family member at the time of the crash. Clawson is a guard at FCI-McKean who had just left work.
