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Mom driving in violent downtown crash that killed 4 people booked into Douglas County Jail
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Mom driving in violent downtown crash that killed 4 people booked into Douglas County Jail

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – The mother who authorities say was driving drunk at high speeds when her vehicle crashed into another, leaving four people dead, including her own children, was booked into the Douglas County Jail on Thursday.

Omaha police said in a news release that the OPD Fugitive Unit brought Rachel Bickerstaff, 33, back to Omaha from Kansas, where she had been treated for burns suffered in the crash that occurred just before the 1:30 am on September 27.

Bickerstaff faces charges of motor vehicle homicide. A warrant was issued against him while he was in the hospital.

Raquel Bickerstaff
Raquel Bickerstaff(Douglas County Jail)

His 18-month-old daughter was also taken to a burn unit in Kansas City for injuries sustained in the crash, but ultimately succumbed days later. Emergency personnel who treated the boy said the injuries “could only be described as ‘disturbing,’” according to court documents filed earlier this month.

The crash of fire She also left behind two of her young daughters—one of them a newborn—and the driver of the other vehicle, Michael Sales, 70 years old of Council Bluffs, died at the scene. Sales was headed home from his part-time job at FedEx when the accident caused both vehicles to be engulfed in flames.

Court documents filed earlier this month claim Bickerstaff was driving between 105 and 116 mph and had a BAC of 0.216, nearly three times that. the legal limit – when she crashed into Sales’ Subaru, killing him and his 11-day-old and 5-year-old daughters.

Bickerstaff’s passenger, who is also the father of the three girls who died, also survived the crash with injuries.

Court records also show Bickerstaff had a prior DUI conviction, in early 2020 and pleaded “no contest” to misdemeanor DUI and reckless driving, losing his license for 60 days and requiring an interlock device. He was on probation for six months and had to pay fines totaling less than $800.

6 News also discovered that Bickerstaff has four other children, likely between the current ages of 8 and 11, who were taken into state custody several years ago. According to juvenile court records, Partida is the father of one of them.

Documents show the state had concerns for the safety and well-being of the children, alleging that Bickerstaff did not take drug tests (he had a history of methamphetamine use, according to the documents) and was not following the medical plan when treated. of a son with leukemia. Finally, in 2019, the parents gave up their rights and those children were put up for adoption.

Journalist Brian Mastre contributed to this report.

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