Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
Florida Woman Smiles In Mugshot After Causing Fatal DUI Crash
Angenette Welk flashed her ear-to-ear grin as a mother and daughter suffered injuries from the crash.
She added insult to fatal injuries.
A Florida woman who had just caused a fatal car crash smiled ear-to-ear in her mugshot for a DUI arrest.
Angenette Marie Welk, 44, flashed her grin as a mother and daughter suffered injuries from the crash. The mother died days later and lying in a hospital paralyzed and on life support.
Welk was driving her 2011 Chevrolet Avalon on U.S. Highway 27 in Ocala around noon Thursday when she failed to brake for cars stopped ahead of her, troopers told WKMG in Orlando. She rear-ended a Hyundai Elantra and the impact caused that car to smash into a tractor-trailer in front of it, according to a crash report.
A passenger in the Hyundai, 60-year-old Sandra Clarkson, suffered major injuries in the crash. Her daughter, 18-year-old Shiyanne Kroll, suffered minor injuries. The driver of the tractor-trailer wasn’t hurt.
Welk, who was not injured in the crash, was arrested and charged with DUI, DUI with property damage and DUI with great bodily harm. She has pleaded not guilty.
Sandra Clarkson's family told WKMG that the accident left her paralyzed and with severe brain damage. She underwent multiple surgeries but it wasn’t enough to save her. She died on Monday, one day after Mother's Day, as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.
Her daughter said Welk's smile only added to their pain.
"That disgusts me and that means she has no remorse for what she did at all and I hope that judge sees that picture and says the same thing," Kroll told WKMG.
Florida Highway Patrol officials are working with the state attorney's office to tack on a DUI manslaughter charge to Welk’s case, according to WFLA in Tampa.
Welk claimed she crashed because she dropped her phone in the car, which distracted her. She blew a .172 blood alcohol content on a breathalyzer test, which is over twice the legal limit.
She was released on bail and it's unclear if she will be arrested again for Clarkson's death.
[Photo: Marion County Jail]
