Driver charged with DUII in Powell Butte Hwy. crash

A Prineville woman involved in a rear-end crash Friday afternoon on the Powell Butte Highway faces DUII and other charges after her blood alcohol tested at .30, nearly four times the legal limit of .08, Crook County sheriff’s deputies said.

Deputies were dispatched around 3:30 p.m. to the reported crash on the highway near Southwest Cronin Road, south of Powell Butte, that was blocking the highway, Detective Mitch Madden said.

An investigation determined Laura Brown, 32, of Prineville, was driving a 2004 Honda Pilot at about 45 mph when she struck a pickup truck towing an empty stock trailer, Madden said.

The pickup driver had stopped behind another vehicle that was turning onto Cronin Road. Madden said there were no injuries to either driver or to the pickup’s juvenile passengers.

A DUII investigation led to Brown’s arrest and she was taken to the county jail, where Brown’s blood-alcohol content tested at .30 percent, which is higher than the .25 percent the jail admits, an officer said. Deputies said she had told officers she had one alcoholic beverage.

Due to her level of intoxication and involvement in a crash at highway speeds, Brown was taken to St. Charles Prineville and cited in lieu of custody on charges of DUII-alcohol, reckless driving and recklessly endangering another person.

The sheriff’s office was assisted at the scene by STAR Towing, Madden said. The crash reduced Powell Butte Highway to one lane for about an hour.