A Lenexa woman will serve six years in prison for causing a fatal crash while she was driving under the influence.
On Thursday in Johnson County District Court, Amy D. Crouch, 45, of Lenexa, was sentenced to 72 months in the Kansas Department of Corrections for involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence.
On Jan. 17, Crouch caused a car crash at the intersection of West 89th Terrace and Park Street that killed Tsige G. Mesfin, 48, of Shawnee. She pleaded guilty to the charges in July.
Judge Neil B. Foth handed down the sentence.
Crouch caused the crash in January
At about 11:10 p.m. on Jan. 17, Lenexa Police officers responded to the scene of a reported injury crash at the intersection of West 89th Terrace and Park Street, according to a press release by Lenexa Police.
When Lenexa Police arrived, they discovered two vehicles that had come to rest in a nearby yard, a Ford Bronco, driven by Crouch and including a passenger, and a Toyota RAV4.
The driver of the RAV4, Tsige G. Mesfin, 48, of Shawnee was pronounced dead at the scene. The two adult females in the Bronco, including Crouch, were not injured.
Crouch was taken into custody at the scene on suspicion of driving under the influence.
This was Crouch’s second DUI offense
The passenger in the Bronco told Lenexa Police that she and Crouch had left Barley’s Bar and were traveling east on 89th Terrace when the crash occurred. The passenger was unable to estimate how fast they were driving, but said they did not stop at the stop sign, according to court documents.
When police spoke with Crouch at the scene of the crash, she told them she had consumed three drinks that night. Police noted she “smelled the odor of consumed alcohol” and that her “eyes were bloodshot and that she struggled to focus and interact (with police),” according to court documents.
At the crash scene, Crouch agreed to take a field sobriety test, where a breath sample returned as 0.188, over the legal limit of 0.08 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood. She was then placed under arrest.
Crouch was previously convicted of driving under the influence in the Municipal Court of Olathe in November 2000, according to court documents.
Victim was a Shawnee resident
Mesfin was born in Ethiopia and moved to Shawnee where she became an active member of the Ethiopian Christian Fellowship Church, according to her obituary.
“You were a beautiful soul, always smiling and so caring towards those around you,” a person wrote on her obituary page.
Shortly after her death, a friend launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with funeral arrangements.
“Tsige was a very loving and beautiful soul,” they wrote.
In January, she was buried at the Shawnee City Cemetery. A video of her funeral is available to be viewed here.
What’s next
Crouch will serve 72 months in prison. She will receive 244 days of credit for the time she has spent in the Johnson County Jail in Olathe. After she is released, she will spend 36 months under supervised probation.
Other Johnson County Court news: Lenexa man sentenced to 11 years in prison for fatal hit-and-run
