Concord police said the conduct of a driver who struck and killed a bicyclist in September did not warrant criminal-stage expenses even though her license was suspended at the time of the crash. A state regulation says a person who is using a suspended license and causes a collision that causes extreme harm may be charged with a legal punishable with the aid of up to 7 years in jail.
After consulting New Hampshire State Police, metropolis and county prosecutors, and different professionals in accident reconstruction, the branch delivered a misdemeanor rate of vehicular attack towards Jessica Warren, forty-one, of Concord, about the crash that killed correctional officer Patrick Bettens.
Warren also faces a misdemeanor fee for driving with a suspended or revoked license and violations for traveling over a solid line and following a car too carefully, namely Bettens’ bicycle. The misdemeanor charge carries a maximum penalty of three hundred and sixty-five days in jail. The information of the charges pissed off Bettens’s mom, Patricia Bettens, who stated the woman accused of fatally hanging her son needs to face severe extra costs.
“Maybe not murder; however, why now not as minimum manslaughter?” she said Sunday from her domestic in Muskegon, Mich., where her son grew up. “Why no longer reckless use, negligent homicide, or vehicular manslaughter?”
The months-long investigation through Concord police discovered that Warren “turned into chargeable for the crash in that she did not exercise due care” via riding too carefully at the back of Bettens, police stated in an assertion final month.
“We are responsible for ensuring we can prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt in the courtroom,” Concord police Lt. Sean Ford stated Friday. “We did not come to this selection gently; there has been lengthy and thorough research that confirmed a lack of anxious factors. It’s nonetheless a tragic outcome.”
Bettens said the investigation had left her with even more questions about the crash and the final moments of her son’s life. She noted Being from Concord hasn’t helped with the family’s pain and frustration surrounding the case. “We aren’t glad our family member is dead and has orphans,” she stated. Patricia Bettens is also puzzled whether or not the driving force of a UPS truck that witnesses said turned into parked in the bike lane will face any prices.
The bike owner changed into heading north on Route Three in September when Warren’s car struck him from behind, police said. According to witness statements, Bettens had moved into the road to avoid a UPS truck parked in the motorbike lane. The van hit Bettens’s returned tire, which caused him to fall off the bike and into the van’s route. Witnesses said that Warren’s vehicle then jumped the cut-down and headed back throughout the road, placing another car.
A state regulation says that someone riding after a license suspension may be charged with a Class B felony punishable by a maximum of seven years in jail if the motive force is worried in a severe twist of fate. While prosecutors must show that the individual’s “unlawful operation of the motor vehicle brought about or materially contributed to the collision,” any violation of the rules of the road may be considered proof in opposition to the defendant.
Bicycles are dealt with as automobiles in New Hampshire, and riders must keep on with the road or a bike lane no matter site visitors’ situations. Some laws, such as the far-proper law and the 3-foot regulation, are meant to guard cyclists by dictating how much space motorists need to give cyclists and where bikers should journey.
Police stated they ruled out driver impairment and texting even as riding in this example. Warren will be arraigned on April 1 in Concord’s district courtroom. Bettens, 41, of Concord, was hired via the New Hampshire Department of Corrections and labored in the Guys’ Nation jail in Concord. An athlete who cherished motorbiking, running, and swimming, he turned to school for a triathlon when he was killed this past fall.
