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Woman arrested for vehicular homicide following fatal Sunday crash along Old Hammond Highway
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BATON ROUGE — A woman was arrested by the Baton Rouge Police Department following a fatal crash along Old Hammond Highway on Sunday.
According to officers, 35-year-old Merari Mejia, who was operating a 2018 Jeep Wrangler, allegedly failed to yield to oncoming traffic while turning into the roadway, causing a crash with a 2000 Honda dirt bike that resulted in the death of the driver.
Mejia was traveling westbound on Old Hammond Highway when she allegedly made a U-turn in front of the dirt bike, which was traveling eastbound, causing the bike to strike the rear right side of the Jeep before traveling off the roadway, officers said.
The driver of the dirt bike, 29-year-old Jacob Brown, died as a result of the crash.
Meija allegedly admitted to drinking about six to seven beers at a local bar prior to driving, according to arrest documents.
Officers said that Meija exhibited bloodshot eyes and gave off the smell of alcohol. It was also noted that she performed poorly on a standard field sobriety test, according to records.
Meija allegedly scored a .089% on a breathalyzer test over 2 hours after the crash, with the general legal limit being 0.08%.
She was transported to a local hospital for treatment and was later arrested on various charges, including reckless operation of a vehicle, operating while intoxicated, vehicle turning left at an intersection and vehicular homicide.
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