Eleven-year-old Niomi Deona James and 13-year-old Jayla Latrick Parler were thrown from the Fiesta and killed, and two adults in the same auto were injured and taken to the hospital, the AP reported.
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Police said that Halsell’s vehicle crashed into a Ford Fiesta that the two sisters were riding in at 2:50 a.m. Niomi Deona James, 11, and Jayla Latrick, 13, were not wearing seat belts and were thrown from the auto, killing them. The girls were ejected, state troopers said.
Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Cross says that he believes there is no doubt that Halsell, who flew several Space Shuttle missions, was driving drunk when he allegedly caused the accident.
The girls’ father, Pernell James, 37, had driven to Texas to pick them up at their mother’s home in Houston for a summer-long visit to Alabama, said Dennis Stripling, mayor of the town of Brent.
Troopers say a preliminary investigation indicates alcohol and speed may have been factors.
After his arrest, Halsell was charged with murder and booked into the Tuscaloosa County Jail. The crash happened Monday in Alabama.
A passerby who stopped at the crash scene to help said Halsell attempted to take his vehicle, according to court documents. Halsell’s vehicle was traveling eastbound in the right lane of USA 82 early Monday morning when it struck the auto. When authorities searched his room at the Motel 6 in Tuscaloosa, they found an empty wine bottle and an empty package of sleeping pills.
A highly decorated retired astronaut who spent more than 1,200 hours in space probably wishes he was on another planet right about now.
According to court documents, Halsell did not remember the crash and asked the troopers to see the bodies of the victims. He was commander on three of the missions and a pilot on two others.
Halsell is free on $150,000 bond. He also helped relaunch NASA’s flight program after the Columbia shuttle disaster in 2003.
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Nell Calloway, museum director, expressed shock over Halsell’s arrest, and said his display, which features a flight suit, models of aircraft and space shuttles and a flag, has always been popular with children visiting the museum. He left NASA and retired as an astronaut in 2006 to take a job in Utah with ATK Launch Systems.
