Oriel Dixon appears at her detention hearing.
An Egg Harbor Township woman accused of being under the influence when she caused a fatal crash was ordered held in jail Friday.
Oriel Dixon, 38, is charged with vehicular homicide in the Dec. 16, crash that killed 72-year-old Joseph Natale and injured his son.
“This defendant is a menace when she’s out,” Chief Assistant Prosecutor Seth Levy told the judge during her detention hearing Friday.
Dixon had alprazolam, THC and other drugs in her system at the time of the crash, according to the toxicology report. She was allegedly traveling 52 mph in a 25 mph zone on Blackman Road, when she crossed into oncoming traffic and struck the vehicle driven by Natale, of Somers Point.
Her 5-year-old son was in her backseat, and may have distracted her, according to her attorney.
She was jailed last week after a two-month investigation.
The drugs in her system were legally prescribed to her, public defender John Bjorklund told the judge.
Even prescription bottles recovered that corroborated their legality, he said. No alcohol was found in her system.
But Levy said the legality of the drugs was not the issue.
“Alcohol is totally legal in your own house, too,” he noted. “In fact, you can drink bottles and bottles of it and be absolutely fine. But as soon as you get in a car and start driving, it becomes illegal and it becomes reckless, and that’s what we have here.
“Some of the medications were prescribed,” Levy continued, emphasizing the word “some.” “But all of those bottles, all of those prescriptions have warnings on them, ‘Do not operate heavy machinery,’ such as a car going twice the limit.”
The public safety assessment used to help determine whether someone should be held under bail reform recommended she be detained. Her attorney disagreed, saying this is not what bail reform was about.
He noted that she has no real criminal history and is the primary caregiver for her four children. She also has been employed at Wawa for more than four years, “and she’s moving on up the ladder at Wawa.”
She’s not an accident waiting to happen,” Bjorklund said. “If she was, I wouldn’t be making the arguments I’m making.”
Levy agreed Dixon is not an accident waiting to happen.
“She’s an accident that’s already happened six times,” the prosecutor said, referring to previous reckless driving incidents.
He noted her “horrendous and dangerous driving record” that includes a 2018 driving while intoxicated in Somers Point where one of her children was in the vehicle.
“It appears her behavior in using substances with minors in the vehicle has continued unabated, which is a concern for the court and poses a risk for the community at large,” Judge Jorge Coombs said.
Dixon allegedly was the victim of a drunken-driving crash in December 2023, according to a still-active GoFundMe. BreakingAC has not been able to get details on that crash.
She does have a long list of traffic infractions.
Three months before the fatal crash, she was cited for passing a school bus that was stopped to pick up children at about 8:45 a.m. Sept. 8, in the township at Blackman Road and Stony Creek Drive.
Around that same time, she also was charged with shoplifting in the township.
Both are pending.
Dixon also was cited for driving while suspended eight times and driving while not licensed seven times, Levy said.
“Clearly taking her license is not sufficient to keep her from being behind the wheel,” he told the judge.
Coombs agreed.
“The defendant is a danger not only to herself but to her children and the community at large,” he said. “There is substance abuse or use that is escalating in its dangerousness while she is driving.”
Dixon tried to talk to the judge after he ordered her held, but he told her she would be able to talk to her attorney later, and that she has seven days to appeal the decision.
Bjorklund indicated during the hearing that her family is looking to hire private counsel.
She will now remain in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
