Wild ride ends after six crashes

Charges are pending against a Marianna woman following a series of traffic accidents Saturday, one of which left her critically injured and another woman seriously injured.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Beth R. Fowler, 40, was traveling recklessly on State Road 73 around 6:32 p.m. when she approached another car that was attempting to turn left into a driveway just north of Loblolly Drive.
Fowler’s vehicle, a white 1998 Toyota passenger car, rear-ended the other car, driven by 18-year-old Courtney Hodges, according to the highway patrol.
Fowler and Hodges were both taken to Jackson Hospital for treatment.
The accident ended a series of hit-and-runs Fowler was allegedly involved in, according to the highway patrol. Prior to this crash, Fowler struck into and left three vehicles on SR 71, and two more in the city of Marianna.
According to Capt. Bill Bryant of the Marianna Police Department, Fowler also struck two stop signs and a power pole. She also is alleged to have nearly run over firefighters who were assisting a man who was suffering from exhaustion just after the Marianna Christmas parade.
Bryant said the in-city incidents happened just after the parade had ended.
The first incident occurred around 6:18 p.m., when Fowler, northbound on Jefferson Street, allegedly struck a car parked in front of the Presbyterian Church. The car, owned by Megan Rose Scott, sustained roughly $4,000 in damage.
Moments after that, around 6:24 p.m., officers were dispatched to an area near the Jefferson Street and Kelson Avenue intersection in reference to Fowler’s Toyota and its alleged involvement in another crash.
The city officer who first encountered the car reported seeing it speed through a stop sign at roughly 70 mph.
Officers would also soon learn of the close call firefighters had with the vehicle, as they were giving first aid just around the time the parade crowd had dispersed.
The car was traveling at an estimated 50 mph at the time when it allegedly came within five feet of hitting two firefighters. The two were standing in the road helping with traffic as paramedics assisted a parade viewer who had essentially collapsed on the curb from exhaustion.
Meanwhile, as police watched the Toyota passed the police station with a sheriff’s deputy in pursuit, Marianna patrolmen got in behind the car.
Officers inside the police station when the Toyota passed by heard scraping noises coming from Fowler’s car and saw sparks flying from under it, indications that something was lodged under the car.
This may have been part of a fender, as officers soon learned from reports coming in as the pursuit continued.
At around 6:32 p.m., motorist David Fast called to report that he was near the Kelson Avenue and Caledonia Street intersection when a white Toyota left the road, struck a stop sign, turned sharply onto Kelson and hit his truck.
Fast reported the car then went off the left side of Kelson Avenue, struck a power pole, backed up and hit his truck again. The Toyota lost its fender in the collision, and sparks were flying from the vehicle as it traveled east toward Jefferson Street.
A passenger in Fast’s vehicle, David Foster, reported pain resulting from the crash. Damages to Fast’s vehicle were estimated at $8,000.
At 6:37 p.m., the owner of a Nissan Pathfinder, Melynda Ann Kutchey, called to say she’d been eastbound on Kelson Avenue when a white westbound Toyota crossed the double lines, entered Kutchey’s lane and struck a traffic cone that had been in the road as part of traffic diversion for the Christmas parade. The cone struck the front of Kutchey’s vehicle and the Toyota had continued west on Kelson Ave.
In the Kutchey incident, Marianna police said they plan to level two citations against Fowler — leaving the scene of a crash with property damage (amounting to $1,000 or more), and careless driving.
In the Fast accident, Marianna police also plan to level two citations, for reckless driving with property damage ($8,000) and personal injury, and leaving the scene of a crash with injuries.
In charges related to the overall the chase, Marianna plans to issue citations against Fowler for failure to obey a traffic control device, fleeing and attempting to elude a law enforcement officer, reckless driving and a safety belt violation.
After Fowler passed Kutchey’s vehicle, the pursuit of the Toyota continued, with four Marianna patrol cars and a Jackson County Sheriff’s Office cruiser in pursuit by the time the car turned off U.S. Highway 90 and continued south on SR73 South.
According to Bryant, the car didn’t slow to cross the railroad tracks and ran several vehicles off the road. It may have reached speeds of up to 100 mph in the chase at this point.
Marianna officers eventually slowed their pursuit in hopes of allowing the driver space to think it through and stop. As a result, they briefly lost sight of the car on a hill. As they crested it, however, they saw a cloud of smoke and realized the car had crashed into Hodges’ vehicle.
The Marianna police officer on the scene reported Fowler remained belligerent after the final crash. Bryant said she was bleeding from the mouth and deliberately spit blood at the Marianna officer.
The latest Florida Highway Patrol report available indicates charges from that agency, the county and the city are all pending against Fowler.
Bryant said it appears the hood of Fowler’s vehicle was lost in an earlier accident outside the city, near Greenwood, but he had no details of that crash.
Major Donnie Branch of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said his agency worked none of the accidents.
Highway patrol reports Fowler had crashed into and left three vehicles on SR 71, outside the city limits, but no further details were available.
Nicky Lovett, Marianna assistant fire chief, acknowledged he was one of those who narrowly avoided injury when Fowler allegedly sped down Jefferson Street near the fire station headed south.
Lovett said the timing of the incident was a matter of divine intervention.
“Thank God it wasn’t 15 minutes earlier, because she was out of control and she probably would have killed a lot of people,” Lovett speculated.
Hundreds of pedestrians were lining the streets just a quarter of an hour earlier for the city’s parade, he said.
“Myself and the lieutenant were standing in the middle of the road to wave traffic through while other crew members worked with the pedestrian we’d been called to help,” Lovett said. “It was just around the corner from the fire station, and all of a sudden, we heard the acceleration of a car by the sound of sparks. By the this time, the captain had rushed everybody up beside the curb, but she was within five feet of hitting us.”
The stunned emergency responders watched as car sped off with law enforcement just behind.
“We yelled for the police, and some of them were by that time getting in pursuit of her,” he said. “We turned and watched, and at the Jefferson and U.S. 90 light, which was red, she never slowed up. Fifteen minutes earlier, and the parade would have still been going on. She came around some cars that were stopped at the four-way, tires blowing sparks and no hood, and I know some lives would have been lost.”