An Ohio woman with eight prior drunken-driving convictions in her criminal record has been charged with causing a crash that killed her passenger in July.

Heather Lynn Tapia, 47, on Tuesday was indicted by the Franklin County grand jury on counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol with repeat OVI offender specifications.

According to Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, Tapia had a blood alcohol concern of 0.138 per cent, which is almost twice the legal limit in Ohio, when she got behind the wheel on the morning of July 14.

Audrey Gartin, 39, was killed in a car crash in Ohio in July

The driver of the car Gartin was in has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide

The driver of the car Gartin was in has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide

Victim: Audrey Gartin, 39 (left and right), was killed in July while riding as a passenger in the car of Heather Tapia, 47, who police say was drunk when she swerved into oncoming traffic in Ohio.

A crash report obtained by DailyMail.com indicates that at 3.30am that day, Tapia was driving her blue 2001 Saturn SL west on Morse Road when she turned left in front of an oncoming eastbound van at the Cleveland Avenue intersection.

The other vehicle, a 1998 Dodge, T-boned Tapia’s car on the passenger’s side, fatally injuring 39-year-old Audrey Gartin.

Gartin, of Tempe, Arizona, was taken to Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

According to the report, Tapia told a responding officer at the scene that she could not remember where she was traveling from or what street she was on.

She recalled leaving Zooey’s Bar and heading to TeeJay’s on High Street and Morse Road.

Tapia was taken to Riverside Hospital to be treated for arm and wrist injuries.

The two occupants of the Dodge were also hospitalized with minor injuries.

Records indicate that Tapia has racked up eight OVI convictions since 1991, most recently in 2016, reported the Columbus Dispatch.

‘This woman had only been out of prison for several months from her last OVI conviction, and was currently under a five-year suspension of her driver’s license, without even limited driving privileges, yet she made the decision once again to drive while intoxicated,’ said O’Brien.

 

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