A Logan woman was sentenced Tuesday to a year in jail for causing a multicar crash that led to her husband’s death last year.
Eska Miller Bird, 43, pleaded guilty in 1st District Court to attempted manslaughter, a third-degree felony, and three counts of misdemeanor reckless endangerment for the Oct. 28, 2016, crash.
In addition to the year in Cache County jail, she was sentenced to three years of probation and 300 hours of community service, according to court documents.
On the evening of Oct. 28, Bird was driving south on Main Street in Smithfield when her car turned toward oncoming traffic, according to Smithfield police. It collided head-on with another vehicle, causing a chain of collisions. Three other vehicles crashed, including one that T-boned the passenger side of Bird’s car, fatally injuring her husband, 52-year-old William Bird. Nine people were injured, and five went to hospitals.
William Bird died Nov. 26, according to Cache County Attorney James Swink.
“It was a terrible tragedy,” said Eska Bird’s defense attorney, Shannon Demler. “She lost her husband. Numerous other people were hurt. Obviously she’s had to live with that through the pending time of the case.”
Police said speed and heavy rainstorms were factors in the crash.
Eska Bird had tried to slow down when the speed limit dropped to 45 mph, she told police, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant. A Smithfield police officer estimated that she had been driving 100 mph about 7½ miles ahead of the crash site near 900 South on Main Street.
She had been speeding, Demler said, but there were other factors that contributed to the crash. The car’s brakes weren’t working properly, he said, and the vehicle hydroplaned before crashing into the others.
Bird was charged with automobile homicide and seven counts of DUI. Prescription Benzodiazepine, a nervous-system, was in her system, according to court documents.
The defense filed a motion to dismiss the DUI charges, and the court did, ruling that “the evidence of any kind of DUI was lacking and was not properly gathered,” Demler said. During her preliminary hearing in March, the state amended her charges to manslaughter, a second-degree felony, and seven charges of misdemeanor reckless endangerment.
The manslaughter charge was downgraded to attempted manslaughter, a third-degree felony. Four counts of misdemeanor reckless endangerment, misdemeanor reckless driving and having no proof of insurance, an infraction, were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.