A Henryville, Indiana mother plead guilty earlier today in connection to a crash with a train that killed her two children last year.
Ericka Fouch plead guilty to two counts of causing death while operating a motor vehicle while driving under influence of a controlled substance and one count of driving without a license during a hearing in Clark Circuit Court in Jeffersonville Monday.
Prosecutors accepted her plea deal and dropped the charge of neglect of a dependent resulting in death.
According to police, Fouch had been under house arrest after posting a $10,000 cash bond.
She will remain on home incarceration until she has been formally sentenced on March 8.
Police arrested Fouch in September, three months after her two children were killed in the crash with a CSX train in Henryville.
The crash took place on June 28 at a railroad crossing on State Road 160 near Pennsylvania Street killing Adalynn Fouch, 5, and Wyatt Fouch, 4, who were in the back seat.
The children were both in the car and emergency personnel found that both had weak pulses and were partially trapped inside the car Fouch was driving, a 2005 Mitsubishi SUV. The children were later pronounced dead before they were able to be removed from the car.
Autopsies of the children listed the causes of death as multiple blunt force trauma injuries. Adalynn also sustained a skull fracture and Wyatt a broken neck.
Ericka Fouch was taken to University Hospital and underwent surgery.
Fouch was arrested in September after toxicology results indicated she was under the influence of drugs. Police said her driver’s license was suspended at the time.
Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull said “A BLOOD SAMPLE DRAWN AT THE SCENE SHOWS ERICKA FOUCH HAD NORDIAZEPAM, AMPHETAMINE, METH-AMPHETAMINE AND THC OR MARIJUANA IN HER SYSTEM.”
“The investigation has been ongoing since the collision occurred,” said Mull. “We had been awaiting the results of the toxicology. Upon receiving those I did file these charges because of the results they contained.”
Mull said the investigation revealed that approximately one hour before the accident Fouch admitted to usingdrugs.
“I know that she had meth and THC which is a result of using marijuana in her system and that as a result of that she has violated these Indiana statutes. These penalties carry a potential 42 years of incarceration. I will say that it is very unfortunate to have to file these charges under these circumstances,” Mull said.
Investigators examined video from the CSX train that showed the SUV driven by Ericka Fouch did not stop before it hit the train. Video and audio showed the train was blowing its horn, as it approached the flashing railroad intersection, court records said.
