Woman gets 6 years for driving off unfinished highway bridge

URBANA, Ill. (AP) - A central Illinois woman who admitted being drunk when she drove off an unfinished bridge onto a highway, seriously injuring a man, has been sentenced to six years in prison.

Ashia Marshall, 30, wept in court Wednesday as she expressed remorse for what she called the 'œmost disastrous and humiliating time in my life,'ť The News-Gazette reported.

The Champaign woman had pleaded guilty in June to aggravated driving under the influence in the September 2019, crash in Champaign.

Assistant State's Attorney Brooke Hinman said Marshall drove through construction barriers onto a bridge being rebuilt over Interstate 57 before her car vaulted down the embankment onto the highway's west side. It was stopped by a concrete barrier before entering I-57's southbound lanes.

Both of the two men who were passengers in Marshall's car were injured, and one of them suffered chest injuries, a collapsed lung and a damaged kidney.

Marshall's blood-alcohol content was 0.225, almost three times the limit at which an Illinois motorist is presumed intoxicated.

Champaign County Circuit Court Judge Ronda Holliman said Marshall, a single mother of two, has known for almost a decade that she needs medication for mental-health issues, but instead 'œshe self-medicated with alcohol and drugs.'ť