A retired NASA astronaut, who served on five shuttle missions between 1994 and 2000, has been charged with murder following an alcohol-induced vehicle crash that killed two young girls.
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Years before he would be charged in the murder of two young girls, James Halsell Jr. was a highly decorated astronaut who logged over 1,250 hours in space during his five space flights.
Halsell had been traveling to West Monroe, Louisiana, and stopped before the crash to get a room at a Motel 6 in Tuscaloosa, according to the court documents.
Troopers said a vehicle driven by Halsell collided about 2:50 a.m. with a Ford Fiesta in which 11-year-old Niomi Deona James and 13-year-old Jayla Latrick Parler were riding. He was released from jail on $150,000 bond.
Troopers say a preliminary investigation indicates alcohol and speed may have been factors.
Halsell has been arrested and charged with murder, as state troopers believe that alcohol and speed may have played a role in the crash.
The girls were not wearing seatbelts, troopers said, and both were ejected from the vehicle.
On Monday, the 59-year-old retiree drove his auto on a near-empty highway in Alabama when he struck and killed two young sisters. A call to his home was not immediately returned.
The accident happened at 2:50 a.m. Monday on USA 82 near the 65 mile marker, 10 miles east of Tuscaloosa. Troopers said Halsell couldn’t explain why he ended up on Highway 82. The sisters’ father, Pernell James, 37, was driving his family to a summer-long vacation to Alabama.
“Halsell’s speech was slurred, eyes were dilated, clothes disheveled and he was unstable on his feet and smelled of alcohol”, the trooper wrote in the court deposition.
Halsell, a well-respected astronaut who helped lead NASA’s Back to Flight efforts after the Columbia disaster is now confronted by his own disaster. Halsell retired from the Air Force in July 2004, and retired from NASA in November 2006 to accept a position with ATK Launch Systems.
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Halsell, whom police detained at the crash scene, said he didn’t remember leaving the motel or how the crash happened, according to the court documents.
