A 37-year-old Dacula woman who allegedly caused a wrong-way crash on Ga. 316 in Gwinnett County has been released from a hospital and was booked into the Gwinnett County Detention Center on Friday, jail records show.
Beverly Lynne Wilkins is suspected of having been under the influence of a powerful sedative she had stolen from Gwinnett Medical Center at the time of the wreck, police said.
Wilkins was jailed shortly after noon, charged with five counts of causing serious injury by vehicle and one count each of driving on the wrong side of the road, reckless driving and improper/erratic lane change, jail records showed. She was being held on bonds totaling $32,400.
Police said that after the Aug. 24 accident, they found an IV bag and a needle in the front seat of Wilkins’ wrecked SUV, and later recovered the drug Propofol from her purse.
Wilkins is believed to have injected herself with two vials of the drug just before the accident about 10:30 p.m. Aug. 24 in the westbound lanes of Ga. 316 at Winder Highway, police said.
The woman allegedly drove her 2007 Saturn Vue three miles in the wrong direction, prompting frantic calls to 911 from 10 other drivers before the crash. She and five people in the vehicle she collided with, a 2012 Honda Civic, sustained serious injuries, police said.
Wilkins works for Gwinnett Anesthesia Services, which is used by Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, Channel 2 Action News reported.
“The investigation into this crash has led detectives to believe that this medicine, these vials, were actually stolen from the hospital where she’s employed,” Gwinnett police Cpl. Jake Smith said.
Gwinnett Medical officials said they had no knowledge of stolen Propofol prior to the accident, and an internal investigation was under way.
Lawrenceville police also investigated and said they determined Wilkins had taken 12 vials of Propofol from Gwinnett Medical. The drugs were found in Wilkins’ purse after she was brought to the hospital following the accident, according to a police report.
Wilkins, the 20-year-old driver of the other car and an 18-year-old passenger, who was listed in critical condition, were taken to the hospital.
The wreck was one of four wrong-way crashes in the past two weeks in the metro Atlanta area.
The most recent accident occurred Wednesday afternoon, when two pickup trucks collided head-on in the northbound lanes of I-85 near the exit to Old National Highway and the I-285 interchange in south Fulton County. The motorist who caused the crash was killed, along with a passenger in the other vehicle, authorities said.
Early Friday morning, Carlyn Emily Royball, 22, of Alpharetta, was killed when she wrecked her car after heading north in the southbound lane of Ga. 400 between Holcomb Bridge and Northridge roads in Sandy Springs. Her car hit B98.5 FM morning show co-host Kelly Stevens’ SUV. Stevens suffered several broken bones.
The early morning of Aug. 15, two people were killed when Frampere Ingle drove south in the northbound lane of Ga. 400 from Lenox Road in Buckhead and hit Eric Hanks’ vehicle. Hanks died at the scene, and Ingle died later at Grady Memorial Hospital.
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