HOUSTON – A Houston woman faces 25 years to life in prison after being convicted for a methamphetamine-fueled rage in which she weaved into oncoming traffic and hit two mothers headed to day care to pick up their children.
The mothers, best friends who were traveling in the same vehicle, had to be pried from the wreckage. One later had both of her legs amputated as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.
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"For a five-minute high, there is a lifetime of consequences," Assistant District Attorney Christopher McKinney said Thursday. "This was a senseless crash that forever changed three people."
Tika Sharon Anderson, 34, was convicted Wednesday of intoxication assault with a deadly weapon following a three-day trial.
Anderson was driving a black 1999 Mercedes-Benz sedan along Veterans Memorial Drive on a Tuesday afternoon in April 2015, when she crossed a double-yellow line and smashed into a tan 2000 Jeep Cherokee.
Witnesses described Anderson driving erratically in the moments leading up to the crash.
The mother who lost her legs rolled into the courtroom in a wheelchair. She testified about how her life has changed, and the day she made the most difficult decision of her life.
Doctors had advised her that if she did not have her legs amputated, she would forever need medical treatment and be vulnerable to infections that could kill her.
"I made the decision for them to take my legs so that I could be with my children," she testified.
Anderson, who has three prior felony convictions, is scheduled to be sentenced June 8.
She faces a minimum of 25 years and a maximum of life for each of the two victims.
Sean Teare, chief of the Vehicular Crimes Division for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, said that with the coming holiday weekend, motorists need to stay safe.
He noted that there would be several "no refusal" Driving While Intoxicated initiatives throughout the county Thursday through Sunday.
"Have a plan to have a sober driver before you begin your night," Teare said. "And when driving, stay alert for others around you."