A call was received by the Curry County Sheriff’s Office late Thursday afternoon, April 13th, from a Brookings resident reporting hearing a crash on the roadway near her residence on North Bank Chetco near Gardner Ridge, about five miles east of Brookings.
Brookings Fire and Cal Ore Life Flight were immediately dispatched and Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the scene. First arriving units reported a two-vehicle crash with what appeared to be a fatal injury to one of the drivers.
Deputies identified the deceased victim as thirty-eight-year-old Brookings resident, Elise Petitt, who had to be extracted from her vehicle by the Brookings Fire Department personnel. Petitt’s child, three-year-old Lacey McDaniel was in the back seat of her vehicle, protected by her car seat and was uninjured except for some bruising from the straps. The Department of Human Services were notified and responded to pick up the child. Petitt was released to Amling Schroeder and Sons Mortuary at the request of the District Attorney.
The driver of the other vehicle, identified as 35 year old Robert Lett from Brookings, was flown from the scene to a higher care medical facility in Medford, due to injuries sustained in the crash. Lett’s passenger, 40 year old Erica Rosling of Brookings, was checked at the scene by medical personnel and released.
Oregon State Police arrived on scene to assist in the investigation and complete an accident reconstruction. During the initial investigation, there was indication and evidence of intoxication on Lett and also statements from witnesses on Lett’s poor driving prior to the crash. A Curry County Sheriff’s Detective applied for a search warrant after the crash for Lett’s blood and after it was approved by a Circuit Court Judge, the warrant was sent over to the Medford Oregon State Police Office to be served by a Trooper.
The District Attorney presented all the facts to the Grand Jury who came back with an indictment of Manslaughter I, Assault III, Driving Under the Influence, Reckless Driving and Reckless Endangering against Lett. A warrant was issued for Lett’s arrest while he was in the hospital.
Lett checked himself out of the hospital against medical advice and was arrested as soon as he left the hospital by Medford Police. Lett is currently lodged in the Jackson County Jail awaiting extradition to Curry County.
The Curry County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police are continuing the investigation and we are asking the public if anybody has additional information or may have witnessed the crash, to contact the Curry County Sheriff’s Office Detective Division at (541) 247-3242
