Blood tests back for driver in S.F. clinic crash.

Rachel Ruiz, the 38-year-old Santa Fe woman whose pickup truck plowed into a Concentra Medical Center clinic on March 17, killing three and injuring eight, had no blood or alcohol in her system at the time of the accident, the woman's attorney told The New Mexican in Santa Fe.

"She had a seizure," attorney Dan Marlowe said, The New Mexican reported today on its Web site.

Santa Fe police still have not sent the case to the grand jury, and earlier this month the Albuquerque Journal reported that, according to a police affidavit, Ruiz claimed the crash was caused by a mechanical failure of the 2000 GMC Sierra pickup truck. Police searched the truck on April 4 and brought in an independent mechanic to inspect the brake and throttle systems, but police wouldn't comment on what they called new information about how the truck was functioning, the Journal reported.

Santa Fe police have sent blood samples to another lab to test for alternative medications that Ruiz had been taking, but declined to discuss the results from the state lab, The New Mexican reported.

Ruiz's husband, Jose Fernando Crespo, said on the day of the crash that his wife had suffered a convulsion two weeks prior to the crash and that a doctor had told her nothing was wrong with her, The New Mexican said.

According to court documents cited by The New Mexican, Ruiz had been prescribed medication for the convulsions but never filled the prescription.

Instead, Ruiz was taking two "natural medications," one of which warned users not to drive while taking it, the paper reported. According to an earlier Journal report, that supplement was called "Nerve" which, according to a police affidavit, "bears a warning label which indicates the user should not drive or use machinery while taking this product."

The alternative medications included an anxiety remedy containing valerian root, passion flower, wood betony and ginger, as well as taurine, the court documents said.

Killed in the crash were Viviana Terrazas, 20, a receptionist at the clinic; Janelle Rodriguez and her son, 17-year-old David Rodriguez.

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