Pregnant Drunk Driver Mows Down Family on Walk to Park, Killing Two and Injuring 14

A Michigan woman who was pregnant and intoxicated when she plowed into a large family on a spring evening, killing two people and injuring more than a dozen others, has been sentenced to decades in prison.

Ashley Monroe, 36, was sentenced on October 15 to 30 to 60 years behind bars after pleading no contest to eight counts of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury and one count of second-degree murder.

The tragedy unfolded on May 18, 2024, in Wacousta Township. Monroe was driving when she struck a group of extended family members who were walking from a home to a nearby park. Johnathan Esch, 30, and Daniel Harris, 42, were killed in the crash. Fourteen others, including eight children, were rushed to local hospitals with injuries.

Monroe did not stop after the collision. Deputies with the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office pulled her over about two miles away. Inside her vehicle, they found a nearly empty bottle of whiskey in her purse, along with two pill bottles. Monroe was pregnant with her fifth child at the time.

“This family is going to have to live with memories of this terrible tragedy for the rest of their lives,” Circuit Judge Cori Barkman said during Wednesday’s sentencing.

During the hearing, victims and family members shared emotional impact statements.

“Ashley, you made me a 28-year-old widow,” said Erika Glatz, the wife of Johnathan Esch. “Working in the medical field myself, I know good people can make horrible mistakes. I can understand and empathize with someone who has made a mistake. But Ashley, this was not a mistake. You chose to drink while pregnant. You chose to drive. And perhaps most vile of all, you chose to run over an entire family and flee.”

Esch’s mother, Dee, addressed Monroe directly: “Make no mistake, what you did was murder. You are a murderer.”

The sentencing comes nearly five months after the crash shocked the Wacousta community. Monroe, now facing decades in prison, offered no public statement during the hearing.

For the victims’ families, the pain remains raw. What began as an ordinary walk to the park became an unthinkable tragedy they will carry with them for life.