Charges: Granada woman tested positive for multiple drugs after Highway 15 crash

A Granada woman allegedly had multiple drugs in her system when her car slammed into the back of another vehicle on Highway 15 last summer.

Jennifer Ann Rose Royston, 35, was charged Monday with two counts of gross misdemeanor criminal vehicular operation in Martin County Court.

The crash happened in August 2021 just south of Truman, when a Jeep Cherokee was stopped in the northbound lanes of Highway 15 waiting to turn left onto 220th St.

A criminal complaint says Royston, who was driving a Chevy Impala, struck the car from behind.

The driver of the Jeep and his 14-year-old passenger suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene of the crash.

A state patrol trooper conducted an inventory of Royston’s vehicle, which he described as having an odor of marijuana. Court documents say he discovered inside: a baggie with a gram of methamphetamine, a partially-smoked blunt, rolling papers, a dugout containing marijuana, a weed grinder, a vape pen with apparent THC concentrate, and a tablet with meth on the screen surface.

An EMT also told the trooper she had seen Royston, who appeared to be “out of it,” place a pipe in her purse.

Investigators interviewed Royston at the hospital, where she allegedly said she was reaching down for something and not paying attention to the road at the time of the crash. The complaint says Royston told troopers she didn’t remember meth being in her vehicle, but she admitted to using it three or four days prior to the crash.

Royston’s blood sample tested positive for THC, hydromorphone (an opiod), amphetamine, and methamphetamine, according to the complaint.