06/09/2009

By JIM SALTER  / Associated Press

A suburban St. Louis police officer was charged Tuesday with four counts of involuntary manslaughter-driving while intoxicated for a March accident that killed four people.

Christine Miller, 41, a veteran officer with the Sunset Hills Police Department, is accused of driving on the wrong side of a road early March 21 before slamming into another vehicle. The four passengers in the other car died instantly.

Miller was arrested earlier Tuesday but wasn't available for comment. She was still being booked by late afternoon, and it wasn't clear whether she had an attorney.

St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said Miller's blood-alcohol level three hours after the wreck was 0.169 — more than twice the legal limit for driving. She was off duty at the time.

"Obviously there was a problem here with an individual who went way beyond the limit, and it was met with tragic results," McCulloch said.

McCulloch said bond was set at $200,000 but his office agreed to home confinement because Miller was still recovering from serious head injuries suffered in the crash. Sunset Hills Police Chief William LaGrand said Miller was suspended without pay after she was charged.

The State Highway Patrol's probable cause statement said Miller had been drinking with friends before the accident. Investigators said she was driving eastbound in the westbound lane of Dougherty Ferry Road when she collided with another car turning at an intersection around 1:45 a.m.

Three of the victims killed in the accident — Anusha Anumolu, 23; Anita Lakshmi, 23; and Prya Muppvarapu, 22 — were graduate students in technology at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. The fourth victim, 25-year-old Satya Chinta, was from Aurora, Ill. All were from India.

The driver, 27-year-old Nitesh Adusumilli of Ballwin, was seriously injured but has been released from the hospital, authorities said. Miller was also charged with assault in the second degree-DWI for Adusumilli's injuries.

McCulloch said the delay in charging Miller was to allow the Highway Patrol to complete an accident reconstruction. He said that while police officers should be held to a higher standard, Miller's case wouldn't be treated differently.

Miller, who lives in Kirkwood, is a 12-year veteran of the Sunset Hills department in St. Louis County.

McCulloch said Miller's injury was serious but that she understood the charges against her.

"There is no indication she had difficulty understanding what's going on," McCulloch said.