Camdenton man charged in death of a motorcyclist on Lake of the Ozarks bridge
LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. (KY3) - A man from Camdenton has been charged in the death of 54-year-old Drew Fairchild on Friday night.
Court documents say 32-year-old Miles D. Aldrich has been charged with DWI-death of another and two counts of DWI- serious physical injury.
Around 7:30 p.m. Friday, two cars and a motorcycle were involved in a crash on Missouri State Highway 5 on the Niangua Bridge.
“There’s one vehicle swerve to avoid the motorcycle in front of them. He did strike that motorcycle. And it was a chain reaction after that there was another vehicle involved, and the motorcycle ended up hitting the second vehicle. So it was a very hectic scene. very chaotic,” said Corporal Brian Geier with Missouri State Highway Patrol.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol probable cause statement, the crash occurred when Fairchild was riding his motorcycle south on the bridge, and Aldrich, driving a Volkswagen GTI, was heading north behind a Cadillac CTS. Aldrich swerved to the right to avoid the Cadillac and partially went off the east side of the road.
The front left of the GTI hit the back right of the CTS causing both vehicles to skid. The GTI continued to go east striking a concrete bridge wall, before returning to the road and overturning.
The CTS crossed the center of the road and rotated counterclockwise. The front of the motorcycle, driven by Fairchild, hit the CTS in the southbound lane of the bridge, ejecting Fairchild.
The vehicles then continued skidding across the road before coming to a stop on the bridge.
When investigators spoke with Aldrich, he noticed a strong alcohol smell emitting from him. The investigator noticed how Aldrich was staggering and swaying next to him and had Aldrich take a breath test. Aldrich had a blood alcohol of .158%.
Court documents say, after he was arrested, Aldrich stated prior to the crash he had gotten off work and gone to S.N.A.F.U. Bar and Roxie’s Bar and had one beer.
MSHP did search the water underneath the bridge.
“We just search for water as a precaution just to just be on the safe side that nobody else was on the motorcycle. And we have determined that it was just the driver of the motorcycle,” said Corporal Geier.
Missouri State Highway Patrol keeps records of all crashes at different locations. There have been 8 crashes,not including this one, on that bridge since 2010. There was one other crash in 2014 that killed 4 people. That was the last deadly crash on the Niangua bridge.
According to online court records, Aldrich does not have any other charges in Missouri, but other court documents show he was arrested about 11 years ago for driving under the influence of drugs in Colorado.
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