The blood alcohol content of the Swan Boat Club accident suspect, Marshella Chidester, was more than twice the permitted limit

MONROE COUNTY, Michigan (FOX 2) – Marshella Chidester, the driver who slammed into the Swan Boat Club in April, killing two children, had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit in Michigan.

Watch Chideser’s preliminary investigation above.

According to blood test results read in court Thursday, Chidester had a blood alcohol content of 0.18 at the time of the April 20 accident at the Monroe County Boat Club.

Cameras inside and outside captured Chidester, 66, speeding through the building where a child’s birthday party was taking place. The crash killed 8-year-old Alanah Phillips and 5-year-old Zayn Phillips and injured more than a dozen other people.

Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputy Steven Schmidt testified that Chidester failed several breathalyzer tests. She could not count backwards from 100 and could not focus on his finger, but she could recite the alphabet. Schmidt testified that she could not maintain her balance and had watery, bloodshot eyes. He also said he could smell drugs on her.

After the accident, Chidester told officers she had drunk some wine earlier in the day. She also said she suffers from seizures and takes medication for them.

“I thought I was going to the boat club, but obviously I drove right into the building,” she told an officer during questioning after the accident.

Marshella Chidester after the Swan Boat Club crash

Surveillance video from Chidester’s home, which is next to the club, shows her slowly walking out of the house, backing into another car and then crashing into the building.

At her arraignment in April, before her blood alcohol content was released, her attorney Bill Colovos argued that she was not drunk. According to Colovos, Chidester has been suffering from seizures since November, takes medication for them and was barred from driving for several months in the fall because of the seizures.

A bodycam video of Chidester was shown in court on Thursday in which she testified that she had last had an epileptic seizure in the month before the accident and had been in the hospital for several days.