Sarah Rose Tisdale (Hoover Police Dept.)
A 34-year-old Alabama woman has been arrested after she allegedly caused a head-on car crash while driving her SUV on the wrong side of the road in October, killing a married couple in the other vehicle.
Sarah Rose Tisdale, who was said to be under the influence of multiple illegal narcotics at the time of the collision, was taken into custody on Friday and charged with two counts of murder and one count of reckless endangerment in the tragic deaths of 64-year-old Teresa Roberts and 67-year-old George Roberts, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Hoover Police Department, the Hoover 911 Center received a call at about 6:19 a.m. on October 31, 2023, about a two-vehicle crash with severe injuries on John Hawkins Parkway, about 15 miles south of Birmingham, Alabama.
Police say that their initial investigation revealed that Tisdale was driving her Lexus RX 350 west on John Hawkins Parkway at Mars Hill Road — with a toddler inside — when she “crossed into the opposite lane of travel and struck a Nissan Rouge traveling east.”
“Both occupants of the Nissan Rouge, Teresa Roberts (64) and George Roberts (67) of Bessemer, Alabama, died at the scene of the crash,” police said.
Tisdale was taken to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital, where she was treated for serious injuries, authorities said. The 3-year-old passenger who was in the Lexus with Tisdale was taken to The Children’s Hospital of Alabama with minor injuries.
“Hoover Police Traffic Homicide investigators responded to the scene to reconstruct the crash and determine what factors contributed to its cause,” the release states. “At the completion of the investigation, investigators determined that the driver of the Lexus RX 350 was under the influence of multiple controlled substances at the time of the crash.”
Following the police investigation, the case was presented to the Jefferson County-Bessemer District Attorney’s Office, and a warrant for Tisdale’s arrest was issued. Hoover police officers found and apprehended Tisdale in the 1500 block of Chace Terrace at about 12:16 p.m. on Thursday.
Tisdale was initially booked into the Hoover City Jail and transferred to the Jefferson County Jail, where she is being held without bond.
Records show that Tisdale was arrested and charged in April 2021 with possession of a controlled substance — synthetic narcotic, and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was arrested again the following month and charged with one count of second-degree domestic violence. The outcome of those cases was not immediately clear as of Saturday evening.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a message from Law&Crime.
Last year, an Alabama man named Brett Amerson was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted on one count of reckless murder in the December 2018 death of Bradley Ray Patterson. Amerson was behind the wheel of a box truck when he struck Patterson. Amerson was later tested, and his blood alcohol level was at least three times the legal limit.
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