McGee faces DWI charge in June 30 injury crash

Gregory Ralph McGee, of Gainesville, is charged with driving while intoxicated causing serious physical injury to another person, a class D felony, in connection with a June 30 accident on Highway 5 near W Highway. McGee and another driver, Gainesville resident Joshua Randolph were both seriously injured in the crash. 

A warrant with a $15,000 cash-only bond was issued in the case Aug. 14 by Associate Circuit Judge Raymond Gross. According to online records, McGee has not yet been arrested on the warrant, so a court date has not yet been set.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. L. Elliott wrote in his official report, which is the basis for the probable cause statement in the case, that he was called to the crash site at 4:24 p.m. by Troop G radio personnel.

Elliott wrote that he arrived on scene about a half-hour later at 4:51 p.m.

When Elliott arrived, McGee had already been transported to Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, Arkansas, and Randolph was being loaded into a medical helicopter to be transported to Cox South Hospital in Springfield.

The crash 

Elliott reportedly interviewed three witnesses to the crash and investigated the impact site and the severely damaged vehicles that were still on scene. He wrote in this report that he determined that McGee’s Blazer had been traveling southbound on Highway 5 while Randolph was traveling northbound in a Chevrolet Malibu.

“As the vehicles were about to meet, the Blazer traveled partially off the right side of the roadway and then returned to the road where it crossed the centerline in the face of the oncoming Malibu. The Malibu struck the Blazer in the passenger side and the vehicles overturned,” Elliott wrote in the report. He noted that the Blazer’s engine compartment caught fire after the impact, but emergency responders were able to extinguish the blaze. 

Elliott said that during his investigation at the crash scene, an eyewitness reportedly told the officer that she had smelled intoxicants coming from the Blazer. Elliott then spoke with the Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputies on scene to ask if they had noticed the scent of intoxicants or other signs that either of the drivers were operating the vehicles under the influence or drugs or alcohol. The deputies confirmed that they had also smelled alcohol on McGee, and Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Cpl. Curtis Dobbs told Elliott he believed McGee was likely intoxicated at the time of the crash.

Confronting McGee

Elliott reportedly called Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney John Garrabrant, who “advised the best course of action would be to travel to Baxter Regional Medical Center and try to obtain a voluntary blood sample from McGee,” Elliott wrote. 

The officer photographed the vehicles and requested that MSHP Troop G send a crash reconstructionist to respond to the scene. 

The officer then traveled to BRMC to visit with McGee.

“McGee was laying on a gurney as I told him I was there to investigate the crash he had been involved in,” Elliott wrote in the report. “He became argumentative and asked where the crash occurred. I told him the location, but he continued to argue and not answer my questions about the crash.”

Elliott mentions in the report that during the conversation he smelled the strong scent of alcohol on McGee’s breath and noticed that his eyes were watery and bloodshot. Elliott reportedly asked McGee how much alcohol he’d drunk that day, and McGee told the officer he’d had three beers. The officer asked when he’d had his last beer, and McGee said he didn’t know, according to the report. 

DWI testing

Elliott asked McGee to submit a preliminary breath test, which he did. The result was positive for alcohol and over the legal limit; however, the report does not say what the breath test result was specifically.

Elliott asked McGee to submit to the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, and McGee again agreed, the report says.