A toxicology chemist testified Thursday that Lynlee Pollis had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.294% after the 2023 crash that killed an SMU student, a level nearly four times Texas’s legal driving limit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pphxRoldAE
Pollis, 27, is on trial in Dallas for intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault in the September 2023 death of Honor Wallace, 19, a Southern Methodist University student. Prosecutors allege Pollis was driving at nearly twice the speed limit when she ran a red light at Monticello Avenue and collided with Wallace’s vehicle.
Brittany Welch, the toxicology chemist who testified Thursday, said that to reach a 0.294% reading, Pollis likely would have consumed six to 11 standard alcoholic drinks, or three to five larger drinks or doubles. The legal limit to drive in Texas is 0.08%.
Pollis has offered a far different account of her drinking that evening. She admitted to consuming a single margarita infused with tequila shots while out with her husky named “Tequila” at a hip outdoor bar that doubles as a dog park, according to Fox 4.
Her defense attorneys, George Milner and Scott Palmer, do not dispute that she was speeding or that she ran the red light. Instead, they claim her blood evidence was tainted and have probed witnesses on how it was collected, handled and stored.
Bodycam footage played in court showed Pollis standing without trouble and talking without slurring, and multiple witnesses testified they did not smell alcohol on her. This conflicts with earlier reports that she had “glassy eyes, slurred speech, and an odor of alcoholic beverage” at the time of the crash.
Collision Safety Institute director Rusty Haight testified Friday that Pollis was driving at 63 mph and sped up to 67 mph as she approached the intersection, where the speed limit is 35 mph. The light in Pollis’s northbound direction had been red for about five to seven seconds when she struck Wallace, who was driving through a green light.
Wallace’s vehicle was sent airborne briefly. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her passenger sustained a broken collarbone, while Pollis, who was hospitalized after the crash, suffered a fractured ankle.
Prosecutor Lauren Black told jurors during opening statements Monday that Pollis’s blood alcohol level was “well over” the legal limit. The trial kicked off that same day and has featured testimony from multiple experts about both Pollis’s intoxication level and the mechanics of the crash itself.
Pollis faces up to 20 years in prison for intoxication manslaughter and up to 10 years for intoxication assault if convicted.
The crash occurred in September 2023 when Wallace, a college student heading home, had the right of way through a green light at the Dallas intersection. Pollis’s vehicle barreled through the red signal at nearly double the posted speed limit, launching Wallace’s car into the air and killing the 19-year-old at the scene.
The trial is ongoing in Dallas.