A Red Hook woman is currently free on $50,000 bail but will be facing arraignment at sometime in the near future. A Dutchess County Grand Jury indicted the 63-year-old woman on 17 felony counts stemming from a January accident in Tivoli that resulted in the deaths of two Bard College students.
According to prosecutors, the woman faces multiple counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, drunk driving, and leaving the scene. As is often the case, authorities cited a previous conviction for drunk driving to justify bringing harsher charges against the suspect.
The woman is on record as pleading not guilty to charges that were leveled at her initial arraignment shortly after the incident. If she is convicted of all the indictment counts, prosecutors say she could face 32 years in prison. Clearly this woman will want to work closely with her attorney to achieve an optimal outcome.
Killed in the Jan. 31 collision, police say, were a 19-year-old Illinois woman and a 20-year-old woman from Seattle. Officials say they were walking on the shoulder of a road with a group of other Bard students at about midnight when a vehicle driven by the suspect came up from behind and ran into them. The fatal victims died at the scene. A third woman reportedly suffered a knee injury.
Investigators allege that the Red Hook woman left the scene of the collision. But they say they located her at a gas station in the vicinity a short time later. That’s where they made the arrest. They allege her blood alcohol content that night was 0.23 percent.
No date has been set for the arraignment.
Source: Daily Freeman, “Suspect in Tivoli hit-run that killed two Bard College students indicted on 17 counts,” April 11, 2014
