>On August 5, 1993, Newell was in Northern Ireland, vacationing with his sister, when he veered their rented BMW into the wrong lane on a country road in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh and smashed head-on into a car driven by Anna Gallagher, 30. She and her mother, Margaret Doherty, 63, were killed. Newell spent four weeks in a Belfast hospital with a fractured leg and ribs, collapsed lung and concussion. His sister suffered severe whiplash.
>Newell told authorities he had no recollection of the crash and did not know why he was in the wrong lane. "I was pretty drunk. I don't remember even getting up in the morning. I don't remember making my bed. What I first remember is waking up in the hospital, with the world's largest erection," he said at the time.[16] Newell was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and faced a prison term of up to five years. He was later convicted of the lesser charge of careless driving and fined $175, after what some media outlets have called "a deliberate and relentless campaign of jury blackmail".[15] The victims' family called the case "a travesty of justice."[16]
>Newell agreed to meet with the family of the two women in the spring of 2003 so that the family could gain some sense of closure about the accident. Newell did not show up at the event, however. It later became apparent that he had paid for a motorsports event to be cancelled that day so he could drive around the track by himself, running over crash-test dummies and shouting "This one's for you sis!".[16]