Missouri participant in Capitol riot charged in fatal crash
Mar 28, 2022, 1:13 PM | Updated: 1:51 pm
UNION, Mo. (AP) — A woman photographed carrying a wooden name plate torn from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection faces felony charges for allegedly driving drunk and causing a fatal wreck in Missouri.
Emily Hernandez, 22, of Sullivan, Missouri, is charged with driving while intoxicated involving the death of another and DWI involving serious physical injuries. She was charged Thursday. Her attorney, Ethan Corlija, said Monday that he will seek a reduction of Hernandez’s $250,000 bond. She has not yet entered a plea.
The accident happened in January on the eve of the first anniversary of the insurrection. Hernandez is accused of going the wrong way in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 44. Her Volkswagen Passat struck a 2019 Buick Enclave. Victoria Wilson, 32, of St. Clair, Missouri, died and Wilson’s husband was injured.
Days after the accident, Hernandez pleaded guilty to entering and remaining in a restricted building in the insurrection case. Sentencing is April 11. She was the first Missouri resident charged in connection with the Capitol riot.
She acknowledged breaching the Capitol and entering Pelosi’s suite, taking a piece of the broken sign bearing the speaker’s name.
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