SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – As we get closer to a special legislative session centered around a new men’s prison in South Dakota, the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office is highlighting a recent crash that it says goes hand-in-hand with those conversations.
The Sheriff’s Office says it was early Wednesday morning, just after 4:30, when a deputy sheriff was parked on a field approach facing east near Highway 38 and Western Avenue in Hartford. That’s when officials say another vehicle traveling west left its lane of travel, crossed the oncoming lane, went off the road and struck the deputy’s car.
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The Sheriff’s Office says the person behind the wheel of that car was 43-year-old Kira Elizabeth Blackbear. In her car, investigators found marijuana and a drug pipe that tested positive for methamphetamine. Blackbear has also been on parole since June after serving time in prison on drug charges.
While Blackbear served her time in the South Dakota Women’s Prison in Pierre, Chief Deputy Jeff Gromer says this case highlights the need for a new prison as well as new rehabilitation services…