CASPER - A 34-year-old Casper woman faces charges in Casper Circuit Court for the Nov. 7 wrong-way crash on CY Avenue that killed a 43-year-old Casper mother of two and injured her father.
Carissa Westphal appeared in Casper Circuit Court Thursday to face charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, driving under the influence with serious bodily injury and two counts of reckless endangering.
An affidavit in the case from Casper Police Det. Jonathan Schlager states that Casper Police responded to CY Avenue near the entrance to Tractor Supply along with law enforcement agencies and first-responders at just after 9 p.m. on Nov. 7.
They found wreckage of a near head-on collision between a red Nissan Altima and gray Toyota RAV4.
Westphal was driving the Nissan and Mandy Butler, 43, of Casper, was driving the RAV4. Crash evidence showed the Nissan was traveling eastbound in the westbound lane of the divided highway, the affidavit states.
“(Butler) was pinned inside the Toyota,” Schlager wrote.
Casper Fire Department used equipment to extract her from the vehicle. She was unconscious with multiple injuries, and she was taken to Banner Wyoming Medical Center. She died shortly after arriving at the hospital, the affidavit states.
Butler was the mother of two children, family members told Cowboy State Daily.
Her father Randy, the passenger, was ejected through the windshield of the Toyota and lay unconscious on its hood. The affidavit states at the hospital medical personnel determined he suffered from massive head trauma, multiple spinal fractures, a fractured left hip, a shattered right femur, and multiple broken ribs on his left side that required several surgeries and placement in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
Casper Police said Thursday that he continues to receive medical care, according to a statement.
‘Conscious, Stable’
Responders found Westphal pinned in the Nissan with injuries to her knee.
“She was conscious, stable, and remained so while she was extricated from her vehicle,” Schlager wrote.
A witness driving westbound on CY Avenue near Tractor Supply told police that he saw the red vehicle traveling eastbound in his same lane and swerved to his right to try and avoid it. He told police the Nissan also swerved to its left, toward him.
After just missing the vehicle, the witness said it continued eastbound in the westbound lane with only its running lights on. The driver said he looked in his rearview mirror and saw the Nissan’s brake lights activate but did not see the collision.
The affidavit records other witnesses who were on the road at the same time and witnessed the collision between the Nissan and the Toyota with the Nissan traveling the “wrong way” on the road.
In interviews with Casper police and investigators, Westphal said she had left work at a Casper medical clinic at 5 p.m. and gone home and drank one-half to three-quarters of a 24-ounce White Claw, an alcoholic beverage before going to visit a shop near Tractor Supply where her fiance’ worked.
At the shop with him, she drank two 16-ounce Coors Light beers and one-half to three-quarters of a cup containing an apple cider alcoholic beverage. Then her boyfriend asked her to go buy cigarettes, she told police.
‘Dozed Off’
“She reported she had dozed off prior to leaving the shop but elected to go get cigarettes anyway,” Schlager wrote. After purchasing the cigarettes, Westphal told police she had dozed off after leaving the gas station in Paradise Valley and turned left into the “far right lane” on CY Avenue back to the shop.
“Westphal remembered waking, seeing a vehicle approaching her, applying the brakes and swerving, then getting into a head-on collision ‘not even a block later,’” Schlager wrote.
At the crash site, Westphal “presented slurred speech and inconsistent statements to those questions asked of her,” the affidavit states. She was informed of her arrest, and a search warrant was obtained for blood samples that were taken at Banner Wyoming Medical Center on her arrival at the hospital.
The Wyoming Department of Criminal Investigation lab on Dec. 2 issued results from a blood sample taken at 11:21 p.m. on Nov. 7 at the hospital that showed an alcohol concentration of 0.15% in Westphal’s blood, nearly twice the legal limit in Wyoming.
In a statement released by the police department Thursday, Schlager said “no family should have to shoulder the loss brought by this crash.”
“Our investigators have taken every step to ensure the facts are clearly established, and we will continue supporting the pursuit of accountability through the justice process,” he said. "The effects of this incident will be felt in this community for a long time.”
The incident on Nov. 7 also involved a second crash the following morning. At 2 a.m. on Nov. 8, a vehicle that, earlier, had been pursued by Natrona County Sheriff’s deputies, crashed into an unoccupied Casper Police Department vehicle that was still at the first crash site.
The juvenile driver was transported to the hospital, and no law enforcement officers were injured. The investigation of that incident was turned over to the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
The aggravated vehicular homicide charge against Westphal is punishable by up to 20 years in prison while the driving under the influence with serious bodily injury charge carries penalties of up to seven years in prison and a fine of not less than $2,000 nor more than $10,000.
The reckless endangering charges both carry penalties of up to one year in prison.
Westphal’s bond was set at $85,000 cash or surety.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
