Driver was intoxicated in wrong-way crash that injured Lexington officer, police say

A Winchester woman who died after crashing into a Lexington police cruiser while driving the wrong way on New Circle Road had multiple drugs in her system, police say.

According to a Lexington police report obtained through an open records request, Angelina Raad’s intoxication was to blame for the April 12 head-on collision that seriously injured officer Dawn Miller.

“While it is possible for a motorist to turn onto one of the loops of New Circle Road in the wrong direction due to being unfamiliar with the roadway or simply out of confusion, an unimpaired motorist would have undoubtedly realized their error after passing any one of the several vehicles” that Raad passed before the wreck, according to the police report.

Raad’s “blood toxicology revealed multiple intoxicating substances,” including cocaine and ethanol, or drinking alcohol.

She also had lorazepam in her bloodstream, as well as 7-aminoclonazepam. The latter is a compound created as the body metabolizes the drug clonazepam.

The report by a member of the police Collision Reconstruction Unit concluded that “any one” of the drugs “would have impaired her ability to safely operate a motor vehicle, but in combination would have created a heightened level of impairment known as poly-drug effect.”

Police said they received multiple calls from motorists about a driver going the wrong direction on New Circle Road, beginning at 1:36 a.m. According to the report, one caller said the driver was going “really fast” and had almost hit them head-on.

“Officers were dispatched to the area at 1:37 a.m. in attempts to locate the vehicle, but reports differed between callers as to the direction of travel and current location of the vehicle,” according to the report.

Data recorder details Lexington police car’s speed

Raad’s Nissan Armada crashed into Miller’s Ford Taurus cruiser on the inner loop of New Circle between Harrodsburg and Nicholasville roads at about 1:40 a.m.

Raad, 38, was taken to the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Miller, who has been a Lexington police officer since 2017, sustained serious injuries as a result of the collision. When she was released from Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital last month, police said she still had “a long journey toward recovery” ahead of her.

Miller was on her way home at the time of the collision and was not responding to the calls about the wrong-way driver. Her emergency lights and sirens were not activated.

Police said the event data recorder in her cruiser indicated that she had been driving about 75 mph before “very heavy brake application, which reduced the Ford’s speed just prior to impact.”

“Speed was not a causal factor in this collision,” police said.

Raad’s vehicle approached Miller’s from a curved hillcrest, which police said “would have limited the amount of time and distance” they had to see each other before the crash.

When she was interviewed days after the collision, Miller told police that she had no memory of the crash itself. According to the report, “she was on her way home nearing the end of her shift when the collision occurred.

“Because she worked Central Sector, she said her radio was on central’s dispatch channel and that she did not hear any of the dispatched calls or any ‘attempt to Locate’ broadcasts which were sent to both East and West Sectors alone.”

A friend of Raad’s told police that she and Raad spent about an hour at the Office Lounge together the night of the crash. But she said they did not drink alcohol while there, and Raad dropped her off afterward.

Police said video from the bar shows Raad “arriving at approximately 12:00 a.m. and leaving at approximately 12:50 a.m.”

While the video does not show Raad buying anything while there, she “can be seen going to a table and drinking from a glass, the contents of which could not be determined.”

Another fatal collision involving a driver going the wrong direction on New Circle near Harrodsburg Road occurred early May 6.

The Fayette County coroner’s office said the driver, Robin M. Gadd, 54, of Madison County, died at the scene after crashing head-on into another vehicle at about 1:45 a.m.

The driver of the other vehicle had serious injuries, police said.

Updated: Two adults, four children killed in Lexington I-75 crash identified