Woman pleads guilty in wreck where unborn child was killed
An Easley woman was sentenced to one year in prison by circuit court Judge Letitia Verdin after an accident where an unborn child died in 2015.
Ashley Michelle Bridges, 24, pleaded guilty to felony driving under the influence, great bodily harm, during an hour-long proceeding at the Greenville County Court Tuesday. Bridges broke down and yelled, “I can’t do this!" as she was led out of the court room by officials.
In handing down the sentence, Verdin said she believed Bridges, who registered a .14 blood-alcohol level after the wreck, was on the road to rehabilitation but still had to pay a debt to the Whitmire and Davis family.
On Sept. 25, 2015, Bridges was driving 74 mph in a 40 mph zone on Sulphur Springs Road near Watkins Road when she struck a Honda Accord from behind at 6:50 p.m. according to court records. The car, which was carrying Robert Whitmire and a pregnant Mindy McCall, veered into traffic and was struck by an SUV and a Jeep, the Highway Patrol said at the time of the accident. Lexington Whitmire, an unborn 22-week-old child died as a result of the accident, according to court reports.
Whitmire also sustained a torn shoulder, broken tibula and toe from the accident. Whitmire and McCall spent days in the hospital after the accident and had medical bills of more than $100,000, according to assistant solicitor Sylvia Harrison, who prosecuted the case.
Robert Ariail, one of Bridges' attorneys, admitted she had been drinking the night of the accident but argued it was only as a self medicating measure to battle her "mental and emotional illness." Bridges, he said, has been diagnosed with a severe case of bipolar disorder and is taking medication.
Throughout the proceeding Bridges struggled to contain her tears, breaking down when McCall addressed the court, reading from a prepared statement.
"We never got to see her beautiful eyes or hear her cry. All we had to do (was) stare at her lifeless and wonder what life might have been like raising her," McCall said in tears. "I will never forget how tiny the casket was. It was about the size of a shoe box. I returned to work but I was only a shell of my former self, having thoughts of wishing the accident should have (taken) my life too so I could be with my baby girl."
Both families were unavailable for comment after the proceeding.
"I just want to tell them that I'm so sorry and if there's anything at all I could do to go back and change it I would do it in a heartbeat," Bridges said, apologizing for her actions.
