Woman charged in deadly July 4 DUI wreck fought blood draw, threw ice at cop: affidavit
A Wichita woman charged with involuntary manslaughter over a deadly July 4 drunken driving wreck didn’t want medical staff to draw her blood for alcohol-level testing even after law enforcement obtained a warrant — and she hurled an ice bag at a police officer who was with her when they tried, according to a recently released arrest affidavit that gives new details about what happened the night 19-year-old Taylor G. Chavez was fatally injured.
The affidavit, written by a Wichita police detective, says law enforcement got the warrant after Cierra Dawn Pauler refused a blood test about an hour after her SUV slammed into Chavez’s car at 77 miles per hour. Chavez suffered fatal injuries, including brain trauma, in the early morning crash and was taken off of life support after 12 days. He died on July 16.
The detective noted in the affidavit that after the collision Pauler stood “in the middle of K42” next to the wrecked SUV, slurred her words when she spoke, had trouble standing and smelled faintly of alcohol. She told police “she did not know” what happened, the affidavit says.
When an officer at the scene asked her for her driver’s license, Pauler “reached down to her purse then forgot what she was doing and stopped,” the affidavit says. She told the officer “she had been drinking previously,” and the officer thought “she seemed very disoriented,” according to the document.
Pauler refused a request from police to voluntarily provide a blood sample at 1:25 a.m. July 4, leading law enforcement to obtain a search warrant for it.
When hospital staff tried to draw her blood, “Pauler put her arms in her gown” and announced that “she was not going to cooperate,” the affidavit says. She then took her arms out of the hospital gown and threw the ice bag at the cop, striking his left upper bicep, the affidavit says. He wasn’t hurt.
Staff eventually drew three blood samples from Pauler: at 3:28 a.m., 4:07 a.m. and 4:41 a.m. When tested, the samples measured her blood-alcohol level at .204, according to the document — more than two times the limit Kansas allows to drive legally.
A man who witnessed the crash told authorities Pauler’s SUV slammed into Chavez’s car as he turned onto Hoover Road off of westbound K-42 and forced it into a ditch. The SUV was speeding in the highway’s eastbound lanes, traveling up to 80 mph on a stretch of road where the posted speed limit is 50, the affidavit says. The SUV’s event data recorder logged Pauler’s speed at 80 mph a second before the crash, at 79.3 mph a half second before the crash and at 77 mph at impact.
Pauler has been free on bond since shortly after she first appeared in court Jan. 26 on the involuntary manslaughter charge. A judge ordered the 32-year-old to avoid possessing, using and consuming alcohol and to not drive without a valid drivers license and insurance while the case is pending, court filings show. Her prior criminal history includes at least two DUI convictions, the affidavit says.
Pauler’s next court hearing is scheduled for March 11. Her defense lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 3:01 PM.
