A Carson City man is in custody, charged in a fatal collision Sunday that claimed the life of a Carson City grandmother.
Jerry Horine, 47, was booked in the Carson City Jail on Thursday on suspicion of felony drunken driving causing death, drunken driving causing substantial bodily harm and a misdemeanor traffic violation for driving right of center.
Horine was northbound on Fairview Drive south of the Fifth Street roundabout about 9 a.m. Sunday when he crossed the center line and struck a southbound vehicle driven by Mary Blueberg, 62, of Washoe Valley.
Blueberg's mother, Wretha Wright, 84, was pronounced dead at the scene. Both Blueberg and Horine were flown from the scene to Renown Regional Medical Center where Blueberg remains in critical condition with spinal fractures and a shattered leg, among other injuries.
Horine was arrested by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper upon his release from the hospital Thursday morning.
"You couldn't have two more holy women and for something like this to happen is awful," said Blueberg's niece and Wright's granddaughter, Tina Magro. Magro said the two women were on their way to church, taking the same route they had taken every Sunday for the past seven years.
The matriarch of a large family that included three daughters, 10 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren, Wright was soft-spoken and strong willed, said Magro.
"Grandma had the most gentle eyes; she cared for everyone. She didn't have an enemy on earth," she said. "We knew that she would pass, but she should have passed on her own time."
Magro said in May 2001, as her grandfather Leslie Wright lie on his deathbed, he told his wife of more than six decades, "I'll see you in seven years."
The family realizes his vision was off by just nine months.
Magro said there are mixed emotions when it comes to Horine's part in the accident.
"There are some in the family who feel that an accident is an accident and it's absolutely tragic that Grandma was taken from us. There are other people in the family who think that he had no business driving on a Sunday morning and drinking," she said. "My grandma was on her way to church."
• Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.