Ex-Nurse Facing Drug Charges After Crash

A Shakopee woman who was fired last summer from her job at Burnsville’s Fairview Ridges Hospital is facing drug charges after authorities say she crashed her car into another driver while under the influence of Vicodin stolen from a patient.

Jessica Rae Baird, 34, was charged on Tuesday, Mar. 29 with possession of a fifth-degree controlled substance and theft of a controlled substance, along with criminal vehicular operation. The drug charges are felonies and the crash-related charge is a gross misdemeanor.

According to the complaint, a driver was waiting for a red light to change on northbound Nicollet Avenue at Highway 13 in Burnsville about 7 a.m. last July 11 when Baird crashed into him. The other driver was treated for back pain and an arm injury.

When officers told Baird that she also needed to go to the hospital, she seemed to have trouble answering questions and couldn’t decide whether to seek treatment or not, according to the complaint.

Police searched Baird and her car and found Vicodin that had been prescribed for a woman who had been Baird’s patient at Ridges earlier that week. The patient told police that Baird had taken away her Vicodin, telling her that she couldn’t keep it because she was about to be readmitted to the hospital.

Baird denied the charges, telling a reporter that she crashed her car because she had a seizure, not because of drugs.

She was fired from her job at Ridges after the hospital conducted an internal review. Hospital officials say there is no evidence that Baird ever stole drugs from another patient.

Baird has previous convictions for DWI and domestic assault.