WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Police: Alcohol possible factor in wrong way fatal crash

Police: Alcohol possible factor in wrong way fatal crash

By Janelle MacDonald - bio | email
Posted by Charles Gazaway - email

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - There are still more questions than answers about what was behind a wreck that killed two people on the Watterson Expressway. That crash happened shortly before 3:00 a.m. Tuesday.

Louisville Metro Police said the “how” of the crash is pretty clear. They said Stephanie Byrd, 31, of Jeffersonville, was driving the wrong way - eastbound in the westbound lanes of the Watterson - and hit another vehicle head-on. The question still in everybody's mind is why?

Who can say what took Byrd the wrong way up the Watterson Expressway? But police said that's what happened and from that moment on, she was on a collision course with Saul Figueroa Bautista, 32, of Louisville.

"Basically you have somebody who's driving the right way on I-264, minding their own business and now they're dead and there was no reason for that," said Sgt. Mike Minniear of the LMPD Traffic Unit.

Police have reconstructed the mechanics of the crash. What they still don't know is where Byrd made her wrong turn and drove at least a mile and a half the wrong way. "There's nowhere to get on. The first exit they could've entered the wrong way at was 3rd Street. The one after that was Taylor Boulevard and then Dixie Highway," Minniear said.

Her family and friends told WAVE 3 Byrd was a good mother to two girls, ages seven and 12. They also said she was a hard worker, putting in around 60 hours a week as a manager at the Texas Roadhouse in Shively. They said she would, at times, close up at one in the morning or later.

Could fatigue have been a factor? Police can't rule it out. "But to be fatigued enough to enter a roadway and drive down the wrong way down a highway, like I say, it's just as bad," said Minniear.

He said they have another suspicion, one they think is more likely. "We do think that alcohol was a contributing factor on the driver of the vehicle at fault ... We can't officially say it is. We can base it on odor, but that's part of the ongoing investigation."

Even once they have all their questions officially answered, they'll be left with what certainly was a tragic crash.

According to the coroner's office, Bautista was also a father to three children.

Police said Byrd didn't have her headlights on and neither driver was wearing a seatbelt.

A third car, a minivan, hit Byrd's car after the accident happened. No one in the van was injured and police don't think it played any factor in the two deaths.

Related stories:

• Victims identified in deadly wrongway collision on Watterson

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