Woman sentenced in DUI crash that killed friend who was Mississippi Coast police officer

A Mississippi woman is headed to prison for 10 years for being under the influence of alcohol when she caused a crash that killed Waveland police officer Katie Cash .

Before the sentence was imposed, a tearful Angela Christian James, 45, of Carriere, apologized for what she had done that led to her arrest and subsequent conviction.

Judge Christopher Schmidt sentenced James on Monday on a charge of manslaughter. She had pleaded guilty in June for her actions that led to the July 18, 2021, crash that killed the Waveland police officer.

The crash occurred one day after Cash, a mother of two, graduated from the Harrison County Law Enforcement Academy.

James and Cash, 33, were friends, her family said.

According to authorities, James was legally drunk and reached speeds of up to 100 mph — as clocked by a sensor in her new vehicle — when the vehicle ran off the road in a curve and flipped, trapping James in the car and ejecting Cash and another passenger. Her attorney, James Gray, disputed whether the sensor picked up the correct speed.

In exchange for her guilty plea in June, Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Necaise said prosecutors had dismissed the remaining charges of DUI causing death or disfigurement.

Cash died at the scene.

At her plea hearing in June, James recalled the morning she was legally drunk and got into a vehicle crash that killed her friend.

At the plea hearing, James said she thought she had passed out before the crash happened. However, she doesn’t remember much about what happened because of head injuries she had also sustained that sent her to a hospital for treatment as well.

The crash happened at 3:45 a.m. on July 18, 2021, on a curve just before the intersection at Highway 63 and Paradise Lane. The car was headed north when it ran off the road, the Mississippi Highway Patrol said at the time.

According to a sensor in her new car, James was speeding, reaching speeds of 100 mph before the crash, though her attorney, James Gray, questioned whether the sensor recorded the speed correctly.

A Hancock County grand jury had indicted James on four additional counts of felony DUI causing death or disfigurement.

However, Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Necaise said prosecutors dismissed those charges in exchange for the guilty plea. Necaise prosecuted the case.

When authorities went to lead James out of the courtroom after the sentencing, she looked back to a relative, saying, “Bye baby, I love you.”

In the aftermath of her death, Waveland Police Chief Mike Prendergast shared an emotional post about losing Cash and asked the community to keep Cash, her family, and her police officers in their prayers.