ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A Florissant man was arrested Thursday for his role in a deadly crash that happened in November on New Halls Ferry Road.
At about 11:50 p.m. on Nov. 12, Zachary Myers was driving northbound at about 60 mph on New Halls Ferry Road, where the speed limit is 40 mph. The 34-year-old crossed the double yellow lines and struck another car head-on, according to the St. Louis County Police Department.
The driver of the car that was struck, 45-year-old Laquita Grady of Florissant, was taken to an area hospital, where she later died due to her injuries.
According to a probable cause statement, Myers told police he had swerved into oncoming traffic after a deer or a dog ran in front of his car, though a witness at the scene saw no animals that would have caused him to swerve.
A responding officer noticed signs that Myers was intoxicated, including the smell of alcohol and glassy eyes, and he admitted to taking pain medicine four hours before talking with the officer. Myers was arrested and refused to give a sample of his blood, which was later obtained through a search warrant. The sample revealed a blood alcohol level of .156 and the presence of oxycodone.
Inside Myers' car, officers located an empty bottle of vodka in the floorboard and an empty bottle of hydrocodone in the center console, according to the probable cause statement, and on recorded jail calls, Myers was heard saying "I killed somebody" and "I hit another car head-on."
Myers was charged Thursday with one count of driving under the influence that resulted in the death of another. He was being held on a $100,000 cash-only bond as of Tuesday morning.
The St. Louis County Bureau of Crimes Against Persons detectives are leading the investigation into the deadly crash.
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