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Trooper suspects Fort Hood soldier was "intoxicated" in crash that killed one, hurt two others

Posted at 10:19 PM, Jun 15, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-16 18:19:48-04

A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper suspects a Fort Hood soldier who drove on the wrong side of a highway and crashed head-on into a car carrying three women may have been "intoxicated," according to documents News Channel 25 obtained.

The wreck happened May 21 around 5:45 a.m. on Highway 195 near Georgetown.

28-year-old Fort Hood soldier Tommy Lee Schlett was driving northbound in the southbound lanes when he crashed head-on into an oncoming car.

35-year-old Dian Glee, 47-year-old Venus Weatherton, and 36-year-old Tiffany Prelow were riding in that car on their way to work.

All three women were taken to Seton Medical Center Williamson in Round Rock in critical condition.

Glee died from her injuries at the hospital. Weatherton and Prelow have since been released from the hospital, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Schlett was also taken to the hospital in critical condition.

News Channel 25 obtained a search warrant affidavit to seize vials of Schlett's blood taken at the hospital. In that affidavit, the trooper who responded to the scene said he has reason to believe Schlett was driving drunk that morning.

An off-duty firefighter, who witnessed the wreck, told the trooper "he smelled an odor of an alcoholic beverage on the breath of the suspected intoxicated driver when he checked the individual for a pulse," according to the affidavit.

He also told the trooper "the odor of an alcoholic beverage was stronger and more apparent" when he and on-duty fire personnel were removing Schlett from the wrecked car.

EMS personnel and firefighters who responded to the scene told the trooper "they also smelled an odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from the suspected intoxicated driver's breath and person."

"I have seen intoxicated persons on many occasions in the past. Based on all of the above, my experience, and training, I have probable cause to believe that the suspect was intoxicated at the time of the crash," the trooper said in the affidavit.

Williamson County Assistant District Attorney Jo Poenitzsch also submitted a request to impound Schlett's car in order to retrieve its airbag/electronic control module. The module could tell investigators how fast the car was going before the airbags deployed, among other pieces of information.

The crash is still under investigation, and no charges have been filed at this time.

However, according to documents News Channel 25 obtained, Schlett could face intoxication manslaughter, intoxication assault, and/or criminally negligible homicide.

Weatherton, one of the women who was hurt in the crash, has spoken to injury lawyers, but no lawsuit has been filed at this time.

On Dec. 13, 2006, in a separate incident, Schlett was booked into the Warren County Regional Jail in Bowling Green, Kentucky, for driving under the influence. That conviction was removed from his record after five years because of Kentucky law, according to a Bowling Green Police Department spokesperson.

"People gotta know how to control their actions and be responsible. It's not just their life they're playing with. They're playing Russian Roulette with everybody's lives. And now my family is hurting from it. And not just my family but the whole community and everybody that just knew my mom, period, over some fun," Glee's son, Tavarus, said in an interview with News Channel 25 two days after the crash.

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