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| Fatal crash leaves hole in family |
| By tulsaworld.com |
| Published: 12/21/2009 |
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BROKEN ARROW — Henry Northcott had a family ritual for nearly every day of the week. "American Idol" nights meant pizza. Thursdays, he took his children to music lessons. On football Sundays, his wife and four kids huddled around the tube for cheese dip, taco salad and Northcott's beloved Dallas Cowboys. "He was a habit kind of guy," his wife, Debbie, said. One Saturday last month, Northcott's routine came to a crashing halt. A westbound vehicle driven by Dena Harl, 48, of Claremore swerved across two lanes on East Kenosha Street in Broken Arrow and struck an eastbound truck driven by Northcott, 40, on Nov. 7, police said. He never recovered from injuries suffered in the head-on collision and died Dec. 2 at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa. "I just want the kids to remember their dad," Debbie Northcott said in a telephone interview last week. "I haven't been able to put up the (Christmas) tree, yet. The support we have gotten from all our friends and family is just overwhelming. It's just amazing the love that everybody's given Henry and us." Transported to the hospital with internal bleeding, Northcott had a lacerated liver and a right leg broken in two places, Debbie Northcott said. His left leg was pushed through his pelvis, she said. "If you would have seen that hospital room, you wouldn't have believed it," said Richard Moretti, 83, Debbie Northcott's grandfather. "It was really a tragic sight." Following the 5:14 a.m. collision — Northcott was on his route as a Tulsa World newspaper contract carrier at the time — Broken Arrow police said they detected an odor of alcohol on the breath of Harl. Also, testing later found her to be in possession of a Schedule IV prescription mediation, or controlled drug, Broken Arrow police Capt. Greg Sipes said. Blood was drawn from Harl, who hasn't been arrested because she was admitted to a hospital, Sipes said. "Once we can get the blood results back on this, we will file an ... affidavit with the district attorney," said Sipes, adding that Harl hasn't been charged. Harl has a history of drunken-driving crimes. She has two DUI convictions (1998 and 2000) in Rogers County. She pleaded guilty to a DUI misdemeanor in Tulsa County in 1994 and to a public drunkenness charge in 1992. Two years ago in Rogers County, she pleaded guilty to controlled substance and drug paraphernalia counts. Harl, who graduated from Rogers County's drug court program in August, spent 11 months in Department of Corrections custody in 2000, a DOC spokesman said. Twenty days before the Broken Arrow collision, she was stopped at 2:21 a.m. while driving on Oklahoma 66 in Claremore, records show. Admitting to police to taking a Valium and drinking alcoholic beverages before driving, she blew a 0.06 percent on an alcohol breath test and later was charged with driving while impaired, documents indicate. The legal limit for driving while intoxicated is .08 percent. Read More. |
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