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Nicolaas Alan Myrtle (inset) faces felony DUI charges after a car accident that paralyzed one daughter and critically injured the other. (Inset: Redding Record-Searchlight)

Warning: This story is heartbreaking.

A 28-year-old father who drove after he smoked medical marijuana and took other drugs faces felony DUI charges for a car accident that critically injured his two young daughters. One of them suffered a paralyzing spinal cord injury.

•   A father smoked medicinal marijuana and then crashed his car with his two young daughters inside.

•   The girls were not properly secured in their child safety seats.

•   Both girls were critically injured. One is paralyzed from a spinal cord injury. The other had injuries to her face and may be blind in one eye.

•   The father is charged with felony DUI, several grave bodily injury enhancements, and chid endangerment.

The drugged driving accident occurred at about 8:45 p.m., according to a report in the Redding Record-Searchlight.

Nicolaas Alan Myrtle of Palo Cedro said the accident happened when he reached back to buckle one of his daughter’s seat belts that had become unbuckled, according to the California Highway Patrol report.

3-year-old Ashlynn Myrtle (left) and 4-year-old Alexis Myrtle were critically injured in a drugged driving accident.

Myrtle lost control of his car and ran off Gas Point Road near the Little League Fields in Cottonwood, about 15 miles south of Redding.  The car hit a concrete bridge abutment. His two daughters – 3-year-old Ashlynn and 4-year-old Alexis — suffered catastrophic injuries and remain hospitalized at Mercy Medical Center in Redding.

Ashlynn suffered a spinal cord injury and is paralyzed from the waist down, according to a report in the Mt. Shasta News. She is expected to be transferred later this week to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, where she’ll get specialized care for pediatric spinal injuries.

Alexis was on a life-support respirator until Sunday night, but is now breathing on her own. She underwent surgery to repair a deep gash in her face. It is not known whether she’ll have motor function or sight in her right eye.

CHP officer Michael Cregger said Myrtle told him that the two little girls were in their booster seats with their seat belts fastened when the crash happened. But he said the girls had a habit of taking the shoulder belts and tucking them underneath the arm rests of the booster seats.

When Cregger asked Myrtle if that is how the seat belts were positioned on the girls, he “looked down, started crying and shaking his head yes,” the CHP report stated.

Myrtle told officers he had smoked medical marijuana several hours before the accident. Officers found two prescription bottles for methadone and alprazolam (Xanax) in Myrtle’s car.

When officers interviewed Myrtle at the hospital following the accident, he said he had taken two methadone pills around 2 p.m. on the day of the crash and alprazolam about an hour after that. He told officers he takes the methadone for back pain and the other medication for anxiety.

Myrtle remains in Shasta County jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. He faces felony charges for driving under the influence with numerous enhancements for grave bodily injury, and child endangerment. Read the court documents for full details about the charges.

The girls’ mother, Amanda Pevehouse, told the Mt. Shasta newspaper that she’s taking it all one step at a time and is grateful for all the support she has received.

“Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my babies,” she said. “We’re thankful they’re alive.”

A community fund to help Pevehouse and her daughters has been set up at PremierWest Bank. The account number is 68016754. Donations can be made at any PremierWest Bank branch.

Redding Car Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented car accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

One person was killed and two others injured in a drunk driving crash in Ramona. (Photo: ABC News)

High speed, unsafe road conditions and alcohol led to a deadly accident on Sunday. One man was killed and two others seriously injured in a single-vehicle drunk driving crash in East San Diego County.

•   A suspected drunk driver who was traveling at high speed swerved to avoid hitting a woman and a horse on a rural road. 

•   The car went out of control, flipped over, and landed upside-down in front of a resident’s house.

•   One passenger died at the scene. The driver was hospitalized with a  serious spinal injury. The other passenger also was hospitalized.

The accident occurred at about 3:20 p.m., according to an ABC Channel 10 News report.

A 1970 Plymouth Barracuda that was traveling at a high rate of speed on Ashley Road near Seventh Street in Ramona apparently swerved to avoid hitting a young woman who was unloading a horse from a cart.

The driver, a 42-year-old Ramona man whose name was not released, then lost control of the vehicle. It veered off of the road, rolled over, crashed into a retaining wall, and landed on its roof in the driveway in front of Dennis Morgan’s home.

“I heard the car hit the gas, I heard him put it into a higher gear, then I heard him speeding down the hill and suddenly they hit the brakes,” Morgan told ABC News. “Then I saw a car come ripping right through the front of my yard.”

One of the passengers, later identified as 52-year-old Mark Andrew Jones of Ramona, was ejected from the car and was lying next to it in the driveway.  He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The other passenger suffered major injuries and was hospitalized. Police did not release that passenger’s name nor the nature and extent of his injuries.

The driver sustained a major spinal injury, California Highway Patrol officer Brian Pennings told the North County Times. He was taken to a hospital to be treated but was expected to be charged with felony drunk driving upon his release, Pennings said.

People who live along the two-lane country road where the accident happened say it’s very dangerous because their homes are right next to the road and so many drivers speed. The speed limit is supposed to be 30 mph, but there are skid marks on the asphalt leading to where a speed limit sign was taken out.

“This is a totally preventable, unnecessary, tragedy that did not have to happen,” Morgan said. “Anywhere in the county where there are these kinds of conditions, it’s just a matter of time.”

Morgan said he hoped county supervisors would take steps to make the road safer and prevent future accidents like this one.

“The collision is still under investigation,”CHP Sgt. Chris Ertzner told the San Diego Union-Tribune, “but alcohol is suspected.”

San Diego Drunk Driving Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented drunk driving accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.