Report: Woman had shots, tequila, beer before crash

A hearing on the felony charge is Friday.

YOUNGSTOWN — Adrien N. Foutz told a state trooper she drank two cherry bomb shots, two beers and a tequila shot before hitting the rear-end of an Austintown police car.

The fiery crash at 1:08 a.m. Nov. 11 on North Meridian Road at Interstate 680 sent 48-year-old Patrolman Ross J. Linert to a hospital with burns on his face, head, arms, hands and legs. He has had skin grafts and is recovering.

Foutz, 22, of Iowa Avenue, Girard, faces a felony charge of aggravated vehicular assault. Her blood alcohol concentration on a portable Breathalyzer registered .279, more than three times the legal limit of .08, city Prosecutor Jay Macejko has said.

Foutz is out on $25,000 bond and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Friday in municipal court.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol Canfield post investigated the crash. The report, which includes what Foutz said she drank at a bar in Austintown, was released Tuesday. Cherry bombs are described as shots of Red Bull and cherry vodka.

Austintown officers, first on the scene, reported that the 1995 Cadillac Foutz had been driving was located on the lawn of a business “with the intoxicated female driver wandering the area, unharmed.”

Just before the crash, the Cadillac had been traveling at a high rate of speed, according to one Austintown officer who spotted it on North Meridian and shone his spotlight toward it in an attempt to slow it down. Instead, the Cadillac accelerated, the officer said in his report.

Foutz, who complained of neck and back pain, was interviewed at St. Elizabeth Health Center by Trooper Shawn Martin after the crash. When interviewed at the hospital, Foutz estimated her speed at 40 mph. She also said she didn’t notice the other vehicle until she hit it and “everything was really hot.”

When asked if she was impaired “right now” (at the hospital), Foutz said, “Not now.” She acknowledged being impaired when she hit the cruiser, reports show.

When asked if she took any drugs, Foutz answered: “No, not tonight. No. Get ... out. I am done talking,” the trooper wrote.