Woman charged with DWI in 2020 fatal crash arrested last week for speeding, meth

Patricia L. Hobbs, a Jordan, Arkansas, woman who was charged last year with driving while intoxicated causing the death of another person, was arrested last week in Gainesville by Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper C. A. Hogue. Hobbs was arrested on the active warrant involving the DWI case, and she also racked up an additional charge of possession of meth during the traffic stop.

She is being held in the Ozark County Jail on a $50,000 bond in connection with the DWI case and a $1,500 bond in the possession case. 

Stopped for speed, has meth

According to the probable cause statement prepared by Hogue, the officer initiated a traffic stop on Highway 160, east of MM Highway, at 2:42 p.m. Monday, April 12. 

“I stopped a blue 2006 Ford truck…for exceeding the posted 55 mph speed limit by 13 mph,” Hogue wrote in the report. “I made contact with the driver and only occupant in the vehicle, Patricia L. Hobbs. I asked Mrs. Hobbs if there was any reason for the speed, and she said she just wasn’t paying attention.”

When Hogue ran the woman’s name through the law enforcement system, he was notified of the active warrant for DWI, causing the death of another. 

“After Troop G radio confirmed the warrant, I arrested Mrs. Hobbs. I handcuffed her behind the back…. Ms. Hobbs told me that the lady who answers the phone at the Ozark County Prosecutor’s Office had told her that the DWI charges were going to be dismissed, so that is why she had never went to court,” the probable cause statement says. 

Hogue asked Hobbs if she had any guns, knives, drugs or other illegal items on her or in the truck, and Hobbs reportedly told the officer that she had prescription oxycodone and allergy medication in the vehicle but nothing illegal.

“Mrs. Hobbs said she wanted to take her purse and cell phone with her to jail,” Hogue wrote. The officer retrieved the purse and cell phone and transported Hobbs to the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department, where she was photographed and fingerprinted. 

“A search of Mrs. Hobbs’ purse at the jail revealed a baggie of crystal substance I recognized from my training and experience as meth. The baggie of meth was found inside a black hand wallet, which was inside the purse,” the report says. “The black wallet also contained Mrs. Hobbs’ social security card and her Arkansas fishing license.”

When Hogue asked Hobbs about the wallet,  she reportedly told him she’d bought it “awhile back.”

He later tested the crystalline substance under a “fume hood” at the MSHP Troop G laboratory, and it field tested positive as methamphetamine. The baggie was packed and sent to the lab for further analysis. 

Driving while intoxicated, causing a death

In the earlier filed case, Hobbs is charged in connection with the allegations that she was reportedly driving under the influence of drugs Feb. 17, 2020, and acted with criminal negligence when she crossed the center line of Highway 5, south of W Highway, and hit another vehicle head-on. The impact resulted in the death of the other driver, Michael Clark of Flippin, Arkansas. 

The charging document said Hobbs is alleged to have been under the influence of oxycodone, Clonazepam and Midazolam, all controlled substances, while driving that day.

Charged with the class B felony of causing the death of a person by driving while intoxicated, she could face between five and 15 years in prison if convicted. 

The Missouri State Highway Patrol online crash report filed the day of the crash said Clark, 59, was transported by ambulance to Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, Arkansas, where he was pronounced dead at 5:11 p.m. According to the report, the accident occurred at 3:50 p.m. Feb. 17 when Hobbs, driving a 1996 Chevrolet Silverado southbound, crossed the center of the roadway and struck head-on the 2005 Toyota Tundra driven northbound by Clark.

Hobbs was wearing a seat belt, according to the report; Clark was not. Both vehicles were totaled.

Two pints of alcohol and prescription pills

According to the probable cause statement prepared by MSHP Trooper Dakota Nash, the trooper was dispatched to the crash on Highway 5 south, about a half-mile south of W Highway at 3:52 p.m. Feb. 17. 

When he arrived on scene, Nash reportedly spoke with both drivers, Hobbs and Clark, the statement says. 

 Nash wrote that he spoke with Clark as EMS personnel were helping him exit his vehicle.

“I could smell a strong odor of intoxicants coming from his breath as he spoke to me,” Nash wrote in his report. 

As Clark was helped from his vehicle, Nash noticed two pint-sized bottles of liquor in the driver’s side floorboard, the report says. One bottle was full and another was nearly empty. 

Nash reportedly asked Clark how much he’d had to drink that day.

“Just a little bit,” Clark reportedly answered. “I just got off work…a couple drinks.”

Nash said Clark’s eyes were watery, and his speech was slurred when he spoke. 

Emergency personnel then placed Clark on the stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance while Nash went to speak with Hobbs, the other driver.

When Nash asked her what happened, she reportedly answered, “I wrecked.”

Nash asked how she wrecked, the report says.

“I don’t know. A car hit me,” she said. 

Nash wrote in the report that Hobbs’ pupils were constricted, and her speech was also slurred, mumbled and incoherent. He also noted that Hobbs’ demeanor was “extremely lethargic.”

Nash said that as EMS personnel attempted to remove her from the vehicle, he noticed a pill bottle in the driver’s side floorboard containing oxycodone pills. 

Nash reportedly asked Hobbs if she took the medication, and she answered, “No. I do.”

When Nash asked what she took the medication for, she reportedly answered, “Pain.”

Both drivers ‘arrested’ and released for medical treatment

Nash placed Hobbs under arrest for driving while intoxicated with drugs at 4:17 p.m., 25 minutes after he was first dispatched to the crash. Nash said the arrest was “due to Hobbs’ lethargic demeanor, her poor driving, her constricted pupils, her slurred, mumbled and incoherent speech, the bottle of Oxycodone in her floor board….”

Nash reportedly read Hobbs the Missouri implied-consent law in the ambulance, and she agreed to the officer’s requested blood test. 

At 4:21 p.m., four minutes after he arrested Hobbs, Nash placed Clark under arrest for driving while intoxicated with alcohol. Nash said the arrest was “due to Clark’s admission to drinking, the strong odor of intoxicants coming from his breath, his slurred and mumbled speech, a near empty bottle of liquor in the driver side floor board and his watery eyes….”

Nash also read Clark the Missouri implied-consent law while he was loaded in a separate ambulance, and he also agreed to the officer’s requested blood test. 

Blood tests

Hobbs was also transported by ambulance to BRMC. Nash asked ambulance personnel to make the blood draws in the ambulances, but both sets of EMS workers said it wasn’t possible. Those transporting Hobbs told Nash it was not possible due to her critical condition, and the crew transporting Clark reportedly told the officer they did not have needles in the ambulance that were needed to draw blood.

Nash finished his investigation at the crime scene and went to hospital, the report says. When he arrived, hospital personnel reportedly told him Clark had succumbed to his injuries. 

Nash went to Hobbs’ room at 6:02 p.m. and watched as a phlebotomist used a non-alcoholic prep pad and drew blood from the woman’s arm. The sample was secured into evidence and submitted to the MSHP lab for drug testing.

Baxter County, Arkansas, coroner Brad Hays drew Clark’s blood and sent the sample to an Arkansas lab for testing. The result of that test will be included in Hays’ official report on the death, the report says.