After surviving about six rollovers of a Toyota FJ Cruiser and waiting for bystanders to rescue him while hanging upside-down in his seat, a 6-year-old boy told to police that he was OK because of his seat belt, court documents say.
The vehicle’s driver, 42-year-old Jennifer Kastner, of Gillette, Wyoming, was charged Wednesday with a felony DUI on claims that she had just smoked marijuana after visiting a Montana dispensary and had also consumed a couple White Claw drinks before the crash.
Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Alexander Stimson responded at about 7:17 p.m. July 26 to a one-vehicle rollover crash about 50 miles north of Gillette on Wyoming Highway 59 in Campbell County, according to an evidentiary affidavit Stimson filed in the case.
Several bystanders were already on scene. Two men found the 6-year-old boy in the back seat, hanging by his seatbelt. The men got the little boy out and put him on the tailgate of a truck, the affidavit says.
The document says the little boy, identified as CS, told Stimson that he and his mother, Laney Speelman, and a neighbor, Jennifer Kastner, had just gone on a trip to Montana. There he had been able to stretch his legs after several hours’ drive.
“He stated that his spine was OK because he was wearing a seatbelt,” Stimson wrote. “CS mentioned … he was rolling around in the car and hanging upside down.”
The cruiser failed to navigate a slight left turn in the road, veered right off the roadway, overcorrected with a hard left turn, crossed the road and tumbled past the shoulder five to seven times, says the affidavit. The account draws from evidence and eyewitness accounts.
Broken In The Grass
Before he questioned the little boy, however, Stimson found Kastner lying in the grass with an injured shoulder and what was later diagnosed as a broken femur, the document says. Medical personnel were treating her on scene.
To Stimson, she reeked of alcohol and burnt marijuana. The cruiser smelled of marijuana too, the trooper wrote.
Kastner’s speech was slurred and her eyes bloodshot, says the document. She said she didn’t know if she’d been driving or what had happened during the crash, reportedly.
Kastner said she and Speelman had gone to Ashland, Montana, to visit Speelman’s family members, the document says. She reportedly admitted to stopping at a marijuana dispensary while in Montana, and later admitted to drinking a couple White Claw drinks that day and smoking marijuana in flower form.
Kastner mentioned that there had been a brown and black dog in the car. The affidavit doesn’t say what happened to the dog.
Kastner declined Friday to comment to Cowboy State Daily.
As emergency personnel loaded Kastner into an ambulance, the little boy reportedly asked Kastner how she was still alive.
Broken Back And Pelvis
The affidavit says Speelman was later found to have four broken ribs, a broken pelvis and a break in her back. The wreck also took a gouge of flesh and fat out of her leg.
Stimson later found the chunk of Speelman’s leg on the passenger side of the vehicle, which he documented - to confirm that Speelman hadn’t been driving.
The women and child were taken to the hospital.
Speelman did not immediately respond Friday to a Cowboy State Daily voicemail requesting comment, nor did the first bystander on scene.
If Only
Stimson obtained a blood sample from Kastner at the hospital. The affidavit doesn’t include the chemical readings from the blood draw.
Kastner asked the trooper if he’d be taking her phone, the document says.
Stimson told her no, and made a joke that he’d only take her phone if she had 100 pounds of marijuana.
“She said she wished she had the money for that,” says the affidavit.
Tally
Kastner faces one count of felony DUI, a variation of the charge alleging she caused serious bodily injury by driving high and drunk. The charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and between $2,000 and $5,000 in fines.
Campbell County Chief Deputy Attorney Greg Steward also charged her Wednesday with misdemeanor counts of reckless endangering, marijuana possession and having an open alcoholic container in a vehicle.
Speelman was cited on misdemeanor allegations of possessing a liquid drug, not wearing a seatbelt and reckless endangering.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
