Lynchburg woman charged in DUI wreck that put her teenage brother in the hospital

By Carrie Sidener
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: April 3, 2008

A Lynchburg woman is facing child neglect and drunk driving charges after a crash Wednesday that left her younger brother in critical condition.

Kimberly Lynn Wingfield, 20, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, felony child neglect, failing to properly restrain a child, not wearing a seatbelt, underage possession of alcohol and no driver’s license in possession, Sgt. David Cooper of the Virginia State Police said on Thursday.

Her 13-year-old brother is in critical condition at the University of Virginia Medical Center’s pediatric intensive care unit after being thrown from the car during the crash, which happened at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Wingfield was driving her 1999 Ford Explorer west on Beasley Road, near Bocock Road just outside of Lynchburg in Campbell County off of U.S. 501, Cooper said.

Her car ran off the right side of the road and hit a mailbox, he said. She jerked the steering wheel, overcorrected and then the SUV ran off the left side of the road and rolled down an embankment.

Neither Wingfield nor her brother was wearing seatbelts. Both were thrown from the car, Cooper said.

Cooper said Wingfield was “torn up from head to toe,” but refused treatment. Her brother had a collapsed lung and was flown by Med-Flight helicopter to the UVA Medical Center.
Cooper declined to release Wingfield’s blood alcohol content at the time of the crash since the investigation is ongoing.

Felony child neglect is defined as any action resulting in serious injury to a child by a parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the care of a child “whose willful act or omission in the care of such child was so gross, wanton and culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life.”

Trooper M.D. Okuley is investigating the crash.