Woman Texting, High When She Struck, Killed Pedestrian, Police Say

A 31-year-old Greendale woman faces 25 years in prison after striking and killing David Budge of South Milwaukee while Budge was walking on Loomis Road in October, police say.

Josephine Sardina had just smoked marijuana and was texting when her Cadillac Escalade hit Budge on Oct. 15, according to the criminal complaint.

Sardina was charged with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on Friday.

Sardina told Greenfield police, according to the complaint, she was traveling northeast on West Loomis road and that she saw Budge walking on the same side of the road but in the opposite direction.

She felt a thud and thought she may have hit a parked car, she told police. She looked back and saw Budge on the ground, stopped the car and ran to check on him but he did not have a pulse.

A witness told police it appeared Budge was trying to get out of the way of the oncoming Escalade before it struck him. The police investigation determined Budge was in a parking lane that was not to be driven on and that Sardina would have had to veer into that lane in order to strike Budge.

Sardina told police she was not on the phone and only used it to call 911, but a search warrant of her phone records revealed Sardina sent a text message and received and read another during the time of the accident.

Sardina’s blood was tested and revealed it contained a level of THC, the controlled substance in marijuana.

Sardina also faces fines of up to $100,000. She has a preliminary hearing Jan. 24.