Police in Los Angeles are investigating Hollywood actress Anne Heche for felony charges related to driving under the influence.
Sources at the Los Angeles Police Department told TMZ that investigators have “upped the investigation to a felony” because the victim of Heche’s car crash — Lynne Mishele — said she has suffered from injuries related to the incident.
In a statement shared Thursday with Fox News, the LAPD said that at first, police were unaware of injuries related to the car crash Mishele suffered from.
LAPD “later learned that there was a victim who was injured and that victim who was injured obtained medical attention,” the police department said, according to Fox News.
Should the LAPD have remained unaware of the wounds Mishele received during the accident, Heche could have gotten away with misdemeanor charges.
Mishele was the individual whose home Heche crashed had crashed into, triggering a fire that destroyed Mishele’s residence and several of her possessions.
Police told Fox News that Michele received injuries from debris and suffered from smoke-related injuries due to the accident, although she was not taken to the hospital.
Fox News reported that the outlet was told Michele “was very traumatized, psychologically traumatized,” however, LAPD officer Olin Osborne told Fox News that the LAPD does not “want to prejudice people based on a preliminary report that has not been confirmed.”
Heche is in “extreme critical condition,” and in a coma following the Friday accident, a representative of the actress told Fox News.
Should Heche be investigated?
“She has a significant pulmonary injury requiring mechanical ventilation and burns that require surgical intervention,” the representative said, adding that Heche “has not regained consciousness since shortly after the accident.”
On Friday, Heche’s blue Mini Cooper sped off the road at a T-shaped intersection and struck Mishele’s home.
Photographs accessed by major news outlets, including the New York Post, allegedly showed Heche with a bottle of alcohol in a cup holder before the accident.
The accident occurred at around 11 a.m. and triggered a fire at Mishele’s home, requiring around 60 firefighters to douse the flames.
“The smoke was just getting way too intense, we could hardly breathe,” Lynne Bernstein, a neighbor of Mishele’s and accident witness, told Fox News. “The smoke was making it difficult to see.”
The actress suffered burn injuries from the accident.
She was “conscious and breathing” when she was rescued and taken to an ambulance on a stretcher.
A few days after Heche’s accident, the LAPD had secured a warrant to perform a blood test on the actress to test if she had traces of drugs and alcohol in her blood.
Mishele’s landlords set up a GoFundMe where friends and well-wishers have contributed more than $132,790 to help her with the damaged property and home.
“Lynne lost her entire lifetime of possessions, mementos, all equipment for her business including her laptop and iPad, all of her clothing and basic necessities, and all household items,” the GoFundMe page said.
