BINGHAMTON, NY (WIVT/WBGH) – Sheriff Fred Akshar says a pregnant woman’s miscarriage was caused by the drugs she hid inside her body, and not her treatment by police.

On the afternoon of March 20th, New York State Police attempted to pull over the vehicle of a pregnant 36-year-old, Quashaia Oranchak.

Oranchak refused to comply, prompting a state trooper to pull in front of her, initiate contact, and force her to stop.

Troopers then took her out of the vehicle and placed her under arrest for fleeing an officer and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance.

She was taken to the Broome County Jail where shortly after 10 p.m. she allegedly began to experience a drug overdose.

She was given several doses of Narcan and transported to Wilson Hospital. The fetus did not survive.

In early April, Oranchak and her lawyer, Ron Benjamin, claimed that trauma from the crash and a violent arrest led her to have a miscarriage, not the drugs.

Akshar disputed that claim, saying that 11.3 grams of Crystal Methamphetamine were found inside of Oranchak.

He says an autopsy was performed on the fetus that found a substantial amount of drugs in its system.

“The amount of methamphetamine inside the child’s body was 20 times the lethal dose that one would expect to see in a grown adult.”

Akshar says that the tragedy was entirely preventable and it underscores the consequences of trying to smuggle drugs over the safety of an unborn child.

He says that if it were up to him, he would charge Oranchak with the child’s death, but that is no longer an option due to New York’s 2019 Reproductive Health Act.