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Portland woman sentenced to nearly 7 years in prison for drunk driving crash that killed Vancouver man
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Portland woman sentenced to nearly 7 years in prison for drunk driving crash that killed Vancouver man

A Portland woman was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison. Drunk driving crash that killed a man in Vancouver in February.

Amy Gaudette, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Clark County Superior Court to a charge of vehicular homicide. Court records show a judge ordered his license revoked.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Gaudette was driving southbound in the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 shortly after midnight on Feb. 3 when he struck a 1992 Honda Accord near the Mill Plain Boulevard exit.

Vancouver Fire Department said rescue crews rescued the driver of the Honda, 67-year-old Stephen M. Wesley, in about 10 minutes and was taken to hospital. Wesley later died from his injuries at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center. Court records state he suffered a fractured skull and blunt force trauma to the chest, among other injuries.

Minutes before the crash, a Washington State Patrol trooper was driving to St. Louis, according to testimony. He reported seeing a wrong-way driver heading westbound in the eastbound lanes of state Route 500 near the Johns Boulevard exit.

When troopers arrived at the crash scene, they noticed Gaudette smelled of alcohol, his eyes were watery and bloodshot, and his speech was slurred, the affidavit said.

Police said Gaudette told them she had been drinking and had recently gotten into a fight with her boyfriend. He said he knew he was going the wrong way on I-5 and couldn’t get through the barrier to get to the right side, according to court records.

A preliminary breath test revealed his blood alcohol level was 0.180. In Washington, a blood alcohol level of 0.08 is considered evidence of drunk driving.