Prosecution wants jail time, license suspension, fines and court costs for an accidental chemical leak.   

Trust me you are going to want to read this, it is a little long but I want it all out there.  The events I am going to share could happen to you or someone you love. The law does not differentiate between accidental and intentional.

Let me start by introducing my wife. She is a hard working small business owner, she operates a lawn care business that she has built up from scratch.  She has between 35 and 40 customers depending on the week.  During the winter months we shut down the business and she goes to work caring for hospice and home bound folks that need assistance.

In March of 2015 she took on client that was diagnosed with a stage 4 brain tumor. She was hesitant to take on the overnight shifts with the spring grass season right around the corner but he was a nice guy and his mother was being charged an outrageous rate for overnight care by the home care company.  Plus with overnight shifts she would be able to catch some sleep.

April 20th 2015 was like any other day and at the start of her hospice shift the client was in the mindset of going threw his basement and getting rid of stuff. He gave my wife a can of Goof Off so she could get the tar off the diamond plate of the landscape trailer. 

Morning of April 21st 2015 her shift comes to end.  She grabs her work bag and heads to the truck.  By this point in the spring grass has already started growing and this was to be the first day of cuts.  Not many were on the schedule, so it should be a light cut day as we call it.

This is where the day takes a terrible turn.  She got in the truck just like any other day and tossed her bag on the seat and headed off in the direction of her first lawn.  Evidence and witness statement shows that shortly after leaving the Goof Off can which was in her work bag started leaking ultimately causing the following events.

6 miles down the road a witness says she left the lane of travel briefly and quickly jerked the truck and trailer back into the lane of travel but unbeknownst to her a vehicle traveling the opposite direction was able to avoid a collision with the truck but was not able to remain on the road and drove into a ditch.  My wife continued down the road.  A mile later she made a right hand turn and based on GPS tracking on her phone she proceeded to drive around aimlessly sometimes crossing over roads she had already been on. 

GPS records show she traveled around the area of Green Lane reservoir for an hour or so. The records show she got back on track and was heading in the direction of home.  All of the information I have provide so far has come from the police and GPS tracking records.

About four miles from home she bumped into the back of a car at a traffic light.  Police responded and had my wife and the other driver move their vehicles down the road and into a cul-de-sac. 

As the police started investigating what happened they discovered an extremely strong solvent odor coming from my wife's truck and were able to smell it from 4 feet away with the windows up and doors closed.  Again we learned all of this from the police testimony at the preliminary hearing, the arresting officer testified at the hearing that he found a container of solvent in the bottom of a bag on the drivers seat and the bag was soaked with the containers contents.

The police conducted field sobriety tests and breathalyzer.  She didn't do well on the balance tests and the breathalyzer test show ZERO alcohol in her system.  The police placed her under arrest and took her to the hospital for blood tests.  We have seen video now that we are heading to trial of her ride to the hospital and she was in and out of consciousness.  They took her blood put her back in the police car and took her back to that station where she called me and was subsequently put into lock up where she immediately passed out again. (all of this information was provided by our attorney and police testimony)

It was about 1:30 in the afternoon, I was at work and wrapping up my day when I received a call from a strange number, thinking it might be a lawn customer trying to schedule a cut I answered and my wife was on the other end.  I knew something was wrong just by the sound of her voice and her struggling to complete a sentence.  She told me where she was and I immediately went to the station.

When I arrived the police wouldn't answer any of my questions the most they would tell me was she was arrested for DUI.  The police had me pull around the back to pick her up and when they brought her to the door she couldn't even stand up on her own.  I got her in my vehicle and she passed out, got her home and she passed out, she slept for 17 hours and only got up once to vomit all over the bathroom.

April 22nd 2015 she wakes up and doesn't feel well but she was a lot better then the day before.  I asked her several times what happened and she had no memory of the 21st other then being at the police station.  Just before noon we went to get the truck from the impound lot and this is when we are informed of the chemical leak in her truck and it's severity. The police did not mention a chemical leak when I picked her up.  Had they mentioned it I would have taken her to the hospital for treatment.

We learned from the tow truck driver how bad it was and that the police told him the chemical was leaking in a purse/bag, the odor was so strong they wouldn't let him near the truck until it was aired out. 

That is the events leading up to the reason for this petition.

Four weeks after all of this we receive in the mail a packet of charges from the police.  DUI of amphetamines, DUI and a few other summary charges. The amphetamines in her blood were the result of her prescription to Adderall to which the levels were 43ng/per ml.  That level is similar to someone who hasn't yet taken their medication yet, levels for intoxication are significantly higher. Someone on proper dosage would test between 110ng and 175ng per ml dependent upon time from taking prescribed dose.

For over a year the prosecution has insisted time and again it was the Adderall that caused her to be "intoxicated". Their toxicologists swore up and down, left and right there was nothing else that caused her to fail the sobriety tests.  We hired an independent toxicologist who came back with a finding that completely contradicted the prosecutions toxicologist, our toxicologist report was sent to theirs for review and their own expert agreed with our report that the Adderall did not cause intoxication.

You would think that would be the end of this ridiculous witch hunt. Wait it gets better the prosecution switched gears and is now claiming my wife was driving around huffing the Goof Off, they claim she was holding a rag soaked in the chemical to her face and breathing it in to get high. The police did not find a rag soaked with solvent and there were no chemical burns or red marks on the skin around her mouth and nose

They flat out refuse to accept this situation for what it was. This whole day was caused by a chemical leaking, it was a hazmat situation not a criminal offense.

I know at this point you are probably thinking " why didn't she smell it ". The house she worked in was closed up and dusty, combine that with the spring allergies and her nose was plugged up. It was also later discovered that due to genetic deviated septum her ability to smell strong odors was severely limited.

After researching the active chemicals in Goof Off we have found that the CDC and NIH have studied the effects of these chemicals on the human body.  Both studies found that within minutes of inhalation the bodies neurological system begins to be effected.  As the time of exposure lengthens the body and brain begin to misfire and its ability to communicate to the central nervous system becomes drastically affected.  The ability to think rationally goes right out the window.  She would have no idea what is happening.

We are good people getting a raw deal, we have worked so hard to build a successful business and we are on the verge of losing everything.  No one involved was injured and all damage has been taken care of.   Dismissing he charges would not hurt anyone and justice would prevail.

By signing this petition you are standing up against the injustice of a prosecution team that will not see things for what they are. A prosecution team that is determined to ruin someone's business and reputation for a guilty plea or verdict.

Please sign and share this so that we can let them know they are taking this to far.