Crime & Safety
Trucker in Fiery Crash Was on Drugs
Coroner's report shows the trucker who collided into a car driven by local teacher Kelli Groves, almost killing her, was high on methamphetamine.
The truck driver who careened off a bridge north of Santa Barbara Jan. 12, , was high on methamphetamine at the time of the fiery accident.
That's the conclusion of the the coroner's office in Santa Barbara County, according to several media outlets in the area.
- RELATED:
Charles Allison, Jr. probably used the drug shortly before the accident, the toxicology report showed, the Santa Barbara Independent newspaper reported.
Find out what's happening in San Juan Capistranowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Allison was driving northbound in a big-rig truck when he clipped the back of a BMW driven by Kelli Groves, a first-grade teacher at . He drove his truck off the bridge, falling 100 feet into Nojoqui Creek below.
His truck burst into flames. Allison died at the scene.
Find out what's happening in San Juan Capistranowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The accident left the Groves's car perched halfway off the bridge. Firefighters, California Highway Patrol officers and Navy Seabees stuck in the ensuing traffic , her then-10-week-old daughter Mylo and her 10-year-old daughter Sage.
According to the Independent:
The extremely high level of meth in Allison's system, explained Sgt. Sandra Brown with the Coroner's Office, means he was actively using the drug, either while driving or at a stop made within 30 minutes of the accident. “He was at the level where people exhibit aggressive behavior or have hallucinations,” Brown said. Allison also had amphetamine in his system, the report reads, the result of his body breaking down the methamphetamine.
The California Highway Patrol has ruled Allison's drug use the direct cause of the collision.
before coming home to San Juan Capistrano. The family is not yet commenting publicly about the accident, but has asked members of the Del Obispo family to .
