Mom convicted in 2017 crash that killed kids drives intoxicated again, IN cops say
A woman was driving in Indiana when an officer noticed she had a napkin covering her license plate and pulled her over, deputies said.
An odor of marijuana came from the vehicle of 37-year-old Ericka Fouch, a woman previously convicted in a 2017 collision with a train that killed her 5-year-old and 4-year-old children, according to court documents.
Fouch was on probation and driving in Dubois County with another woman when she was pulled over July 1, deputies and WHAS said. She failed a field sobriety test, according to the probable cause affidavit.
“While speaking with Ericka, she asked me if I knew of anywhere she could get gas for her vehicle,” deputies said in the affidavit. “It should be noted that the location of the traffic stop was a gas station.”
Fouch is now charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, according to court documents.
Her attorney information was not listed.
Fouch was also accused of driving while intoxicated when she caused a collision with a train in 2017 in Henryville that killed her two children, according to court documents.
A blood test revealed she had methamphetamine and marijuana in her system, and she told deputies she had consumed drugs approximately one hour before the deadly accident, a case summary said.
She pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death when operating while intoxicated and one count of driving with a suspended license and was sentenced to 15 years in prison with three years of probation, court records said.
Though her 2018 appeal to have her sentence reduced was rejected, she was released on probation in 2023 after serving a portion of her sentence, according to court documents and WHAS.
A petition to revoke her probation was filed July 1, just hours after she was pulled over in Dubois County, according to court records.
Fouch is scheduled to appear in court on July 29.
Dubois County is about a 130-mile drive southwest from Indianapolis.
