Bicyclist killed by driver who had taken her dog Lola’s Xanax, Oregon prosecutors say
An Oregon woman who drove into and killed a bicyclist in Dec. 2017 had taken drugs before the crash — including her dog’s Xanax, according to recently-filed court documents.
Shantel Lynn Witt was arrested after, police say, the woman fatally hit Marika Stone, a dentist who was riding a bicycle in Bend, according to The Bend Bulletin. She faces manslaughter charges in a trial that began on Tuesday in Deschutes County Circuit.
Police say Witt was driving just before 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 30 when her car “completely crossed the centerline” and hit Stone, according to The Bend Bulletin. A complaint filed this week in court says that Stone died immediately after the crash, per The Bend Bulletin.
Carrie Carney and Bruce Rogers were riding their bicycles along with Stone that day, police say. Carney testified in court that Witt “seemed unbalanced and couldn’t stand up right” after she ran into and killed Stone, who is a mother to two children, KTVZ21 reported.
Deputy District Attorney Kari Hathorn also testified that after the crash, Witt only came back to the crash scene after driving 300 feet, according to KTVZ21. Hathorn said Witt remarked that “f---ing cyclists are always in the road” to other people at the crash site.
Court records say that Witt was found to have Xanax, a muscle relaxer and an anti-depressant in her blood, according to OregonLive. Along with being on 11 medications, Witt was found with a trio of empty beer cans and a gun in her car, the court filing says.
Police say they found nine Xanax pills missing from a container that was labeled “Lola,” the name of Witt’s dog, inside her truck after they received a search warrant earlier this month. A prosecutor wrote the pill container was not found until last weekend because police originally “did not anticipate that Witt would have consumed dog’s medication,” according to OregonLive.
But Judge Michael Adler “ruled the pill bottle will not be among the more than 100 exhibits” that prosecutors will use during the trial, as reported by The Bend Bulletin. He made that decision by citing “a statue related to evidence,” according to KTVZ.