By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
A Yukon woman has been charged with two felonies for allegedly causing a crash last fall that killed an Elk City teen and seriously injured several other people.
Cassandra Ann Bray, 40, was charged Feb. 23 in Canadian County District Court with first-degree manslaughter and driving under the influence resulting in great bodily injury.
The charges stem from a three-vehicle fatality traffic collision that occurred at 11:22 p.m. Oct. 29, 2021, at State Highway 66 and Sara Road near the Kilpatrick Turnpike.
Assistant District Attorney Austin T. Murrey alleges Bray – “without a premeditated design to effect death” – caused the death of Lacey Jo Martin, 16, while the defendant was “unlawfully engaged in a misdemeanor” by driving a Ford Edge “while under the influence of alcohol” and/or “exceeding the lawful speed limit.”
Bray was driving “with a breath alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more that made the defendant incapable for safely driving a motor vehicle” when she caused the crash in which Zoe Stovall, Tiffany Cook and Shawn Edwards “suffered broken bones, damaged organs and other internal and external injuries”, according to court documents.
Bray could spend a long time in state prison if convicted of the felony charges.
First-degree manslaughter is punishable by not less than four years in prison.
DUI resulting in great bodily injury is punishable by four to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $5,000.
Lacey Martin died around 9 p.m. Nov. 10 after spending nearly two weeks in the intensive care unit at OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City.
A 10th grader at Epic Online School, Lacey was in Oklahoma City late last October spending time with friends. She was heading back to Elk City on Oct. 29 with her brother and brother’s girlfriend when the crash occurred on Yukon’s east side.
Lacey’s mother wants to see an appropriate punishment for the Yukon woman who allegedly caused her teenage daughter’s untimely death.
“Some days I despise this woman, and other days I don’t,” Stacy Grizzell said in a recent interview with The Yukon Progress. “I don’t hold no hate … there’s no room for it.”
Bray made a bad choice when she got behind the wheel that night, Grizzell added.
“But I’ve ‘been there, done that’,” Lacey’s mother shared. “And I know people that’s ‘been there, done that’.
“She took my daughter away from me forever. … I do believe she does need to go to prison to learn her lesson because it’s serious. But she doesn’t need to spend the rest of her life in prison. I’m not even hating the woman. I just want justice for my daughter.”
The Facebook page “Justice4LaceyJo” was launched to honor Lacey’s memory while helping her mother cover funeral-related costs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Lacey was a back-seat passenger in a 2013 Chevy Cruze driven by Elk City’s Cook that was struck by Bray’s 2017 Ford Edge.
Bray was driving westbound in the inside lane of Hwy 66 at a “high rate of speed” while intoxicated, according to an Oklahoma City police report.
Bray failed to react to her “closing rate” on the westbound Chevy Cruze “until right before impact,” officer Jeffrey Hauck’s report indicates.
The Yukon woman tried to swerve right but the driver’s side front of her Ford Edge impacted with the Chevy Cruze’s passenger side rear.
The vehicle crossed the center median and entered the eastbound Hwy 66 inside lane where it collided with a 2006 Mitsubishi Galant driven by an Oklahoma City teen.
The Chevy Cruze flipped onto its driver’s side before coming to a rest, partially in the grass median and partially in the eastbound Hwy 66 inside lane.
Oklahoma City Police arrested Bray at the scene for driving under the influence. She was taken to Oklahoma City Police headquarters for a breath test which showed her blood alcohol content was .12, according to the police report.
Bray was booked into the Canadian County Jail for causing a DUI injury accident. She posted bond and was released from custody before Lacey Martin died at the hospital from the severe injuries she sustained.
Cook, the driver of the Chevy Cruze, suffered six broken ribs and a ruptured spleen.
Two other people who were riding her vehicle also were injured. A second back-seat passenger suffered severe injuries and was in the intensive care unit while the front-seat passenger was treated for minor injuries.
The driver of the Mitsubishi Galant suffered a broken leg in the crash. The front-seat passenger in that vehicle was treated for minor injuries.
Lacey Martin’s mother shared advice with anyone thinking about driving drunk.
“Call a friend. Call or taxi. Call an Uber,” Grizzell said. “There’s some way around this. It’s not worth that person’s life nor taking a loved one from a family.”
