Mom Indicted, Accused of 2-Year-Old's Death in Drug-Fueled Car Crash

An Orange County woman has been indicted on accusations that she caused her son's death while driving recklessly under the influence of drugs.

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Tuesday, Nicole Smith, 27, of Bloomingburg, was arraigned on charges of Aggravated Vehicular Homicide, Vehicular Manslaughter In The First Degree, Vehicular Manslaughter In The Second Degree, Criminally Negligent Homicide, Aggravated Operating A Motor Vehicle While Under The Influence Of Drugs, as a felony, Operating A Motor Vehicle While Under The Influence Of Drugs and Reckless Driving.

The charges were filed in connection with the death of Smith’s 2-year-old son Jacob, who was killed when the car Smith was driving struck a tree March 19.

It struck a tree because, prosecutors said, Smith was driving recklessly on Route 17K and decided to pass a car she was overtaking even though that section of the road had double yellow lines. Instead she hit the car she was trying to pass, went off the road, hit an embankment and crashed into a tree. Her toddler was ejected from the car. He died several days later at Westchester Medical Center from massive head trauma. She was also at the hospital, unconscious for a week and then released a week later.

At that time the charge was vehicular assault and she was arraigned and released without bail.

According to the indictment, she was high at the time on methadone and Alprozolam, which is an anti-anxiety medication.

Assistant District Attorney Kerry Kolek told Judge Edward McLoughlin that the amount of methadone in her system was potentially lethal, according to the Times Herald-Record.

The judge set bail in the amount of $ 250,000 cash or $500,000 bond, as Kolek requested, citing the fact that the charges had been upgraded and that Smith had been arrested June 12 in Glen Rock, N.J.

There she was accused of possessing 30 decks of heroin, the paper reported.

Smith is currently in the Orange County Jail and is next scheduled to appear in County Court on July 5, prosecutors said.