An Egg Harbor Township woman has been arrested in a February crash that killed a mother and her infant son.
Nancy Cavanaugh, 66, was intoxicated and speeding when she crossed into oncoming traffic on English Creek Avenue and struck a car driven by Alisha Williams, according to charges just filed against her.
Cavanaugh is charged with two counts of aggravated manslaughter.
Two men rushed to the overturned car containing Williams and her 10-month-old baby.
But flames kept them from being able to save them.
Williams, 31, and baby Amari died at the scene.
'Worst day of my life,' says EHT man who tried to save Alisha Williams and her 10-month-old son.
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At the scene, Cavanaugh smelled of alcohol and admitted to having two shots of an alcoholic beverage, 99 bananas, that morning, according to the affidavit obtained by BreakingAC.
Her blood alcohol was .111 at the hospital, and .075 — just below the legal limit — when taken by law enforcement.
“Her speech was slurred and her eyes were bloodshot and her eyelids drooping,” according to the report.
At first, the woman told another officer she was on the wrong side of the road, but later said that maybe the other driver was.
A recreation of the crash showed that Cavanaugh was heading north at about 12:15 p.m. Feb. 26, when she crossed over into the oncoming traffic and struck Williams’ car head on.
The speed limit there is 50 mph, but she was going about 68 mph, according to the report.
Cavanaugh also had taken alprazolam — commonly known as Xanax — and it was “likely … more than her prescribed dosage,” a psychophamacology expert concluded.
“Psychomotor and cognitive impairment secondary to alcohol intoxication (alone or in combination with alprazolam) was a significant contributing factor to the double fatal crash,” the expert found.
Cavanaugh is currently in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday.
