TYLER, Texas — Editor's Note: The above video aired in 2021.
A 22-year-old woman was sentenced to five years' probation after pleading guilty to her involvement in causing a 2021 wreck that killed a Tyler High School senior student.
Talia Janae Smith, of Tyler, entered a guilty plea on Wednesday to a criminal negligent homicide in connection with he May 4, 2021 wreck that killed Patrianna Damrye Pettigrew, 18, of Tyler, criminal records show.
She was then sentenced to five years' deferred adjudication (probation), according to court records.
According to an indictment, Smith caused the death of Pettigrew by speeding, failing to control her speed, making an unsafe lane change and passing another vehicle at a high rate of speed. The document also states Smith operated a vehicle in an unsafe manner and passed another car when it was unsafe to do so.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, around 10:45 p.m. May 4, troopers responded to a two-vehicle fatal crash on State Highway 31 East, approximately eight miles east of Tyler.
While driving west on SH 31, Smith lost control of the vehicle, possibly due to weather conditions, and traveled into oncoming traffic, DPS said. Smith struck a pickup truck. Pettigrew, who was the passenger, was pronounced dead at the scene and Smith taken to a local hospital in critical condition at the time.
Pettigrew was a senior at Tyler High School at the time of her death.