Woman charged with tree crash involving Widowmaker that killed four people gets bail

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) – A 26-year-old James Island woman charged in a fatal November 2023 car crash that killed four people was granted bail Thursday after initially being denied.

Brittney Nicole Roper was granted bail of $50,000 and must wear an alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet, the Ninth Judicial District Attorney’s Office said.

Jail records show Roper is charged with four counts of drunken driving causing death and four counts of vehicular manslaughter. Judge Amanda Haselden initially denied bail for Roper at a hearing on Jan. 25.

Judge Bentley Price overturned that decision on Thursday.

Roper was charged in connection with a Nov. 18, 2023, crash on Riverland Drive on James Island that killed four of her passengers at the time of the crash. Charleston police said the four victims, Earl Hamilton Jr., 29, James Hamilton, 27, Mitchell Watson, 26, and Tyler Barron, 29, were ejected from the white Cadillac SUV Roper was driving when they collided with an oak tree commonly known as the “widowmaker tree.”

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The Major Accident Investigation Team’s physical and toxicology report found that Roper’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.090% and that THC was present.

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Information from the vehicle’s crash data logger showed the vehicle was traveling between 89 and 96 miles per hour immediately before the crash and between 79 and 88 miles per hour at the time of the collision, Gibson said.

As of Thursday afternoon, Roper was still listed as a current inmate at the Charleston County Detention Center.

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