Driver was drunk when she hit Katie Arrington’s car in fatal crash, SC cops say

The woman who was killed when her vehicle collided with a car occupied by South Carolina lawmaker Katie Arrington was legally drunk at the time of the crash, counton2.com reported.

Helen White had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.153, which nearly twice the legal limit (0.08) in South Carolina, according to live5news.com. Toxicology results were released by the Charleston County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday.

The sheriff's report said 69-year-old White was driving the wrong way when she crashed into a car in which Arrington was a passenger and Jaqueline Goff was the driver, postandcourier.com said. White was declared dead at the scene.

In the June 22 collision, Arrington "sustained a fracture in her back and several broken ribs" and had to "undergo major surgery, including the removal of a portion of her small intestine and a portion of her colon."

Sheriff's deputies said White was driving north in the southbound lanes of US-17 when she hit the vehicle driven by Goff in a head-on collision, abcnews4.com reported.

Police say that minutes before the car crash, "White was involved in a hit-and-run a few miles south."

The South Carolina Republican congressional candidate was released from a Charleston-area hospital July 6.

Goff also suffered severe internal injuries and remains at the Medical University of South Carolina, according to abcnews4.com.

According to the sheriff's report, both Arrington and Goff were wearing seatbelts, but White was not wearing one, postandcourier.com reported.

"When we braced for impact, we braced to hold onto each other," Arrington said when she addressed the media before being released from the hospital. "I owe Jackie Goff my life, and I don't for a moment discount that God and Jackie are my saviors."

Despite the crash and her subsequent recovery, Arrington will continue to pursue her congressional bid. Arrington upset U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford in the S.C. 1st District Republican primary.

"This campaign has never stopped for me," she said. "Like nothing else, I am a determined woman, and this has made me stronger."

South Carolina's junior U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, who previously held the coastal 1st District congressional seat, will stand in as a surrogate for Arrington at upcoming campaign events.

Staff writer Tom Barton contributed to this report.

This story was originally published July 11, 2018 at 5:19 PM.