DUI suspect smiles for mug shot hours after crash that left one dead

Angenette Welk. Photo / Marion County Sheriff's Office

Angenette Welk's dark hair falls neatly onto her shoulders in the mug shot, her wide grin bearing teeth more vivid than the white stripes of her jail uniform.

At that moment and less than four miles away (6.4km) from the jail in Marion County, Fla., doctors rushed to save the life of Sandra Clarkson, a victim in what authorities have alleged was a drunken-driving collision on May 10 around noon.

Clarkson, 60, suffered severe head trauma when her car was struck with enough force to sandwich the vehicle into a horse trailer in front of it, reports Washington Post.

She was declared brain dead on Mother's Day and died when she was taken off life support the next day, May 14, according to a GoFundMe apparently created by family.

Welk, 44, was charged with a felony DUI with great bodily harm and two misdemeanor counts involving drunken driving in the collision, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

She paid $10,000 (NZD $14,461) in bail and was released May 11 after entering not guilty pleas.

But because Clarkson died afterward, the Florida Highway Patrol now intends to arrest Welk on an upgraded manslaughter DUI charge, the assistant state attorney for Marion County told The Washington Post on Friday.

At the scene, Welk told police she was distracted after dropping her cellphone before she smashed into the vehicle, the Florida Highway Patrol said in an arrest affidavit provided to The Post.

She also believed that the road she was driving on was an entirely different road, the document shows. Welk crashed into a car driven by Clarkson's 18-year-old daughter, Shiyanne Kroll, who suffered minor injuries, Village News reported.

Welk, whose blood-alcohol limit was twice the legal limit, was uninjured in the crash. She could not be reached for comment.

Kroll and her sister, Keonna Sciacca, told Click Orlando they were devastated over losing their mother and repulsed by Welk's ear-to-ear smile.

"That disgusts me, and that means she has no remorse for what she did at all, and I hope that judge sees that picture and says the same thing," Kroll said.

Sciacca wept over the loss.

"It's definitely wrecked our family forever, not just temporarily, this was a permanent thing that [Welk] did. … I can't hug her, I can't tell her, 'Goodnight, I love you,' " Sciacca said through tears. "It's destroyed us."