Teen Driver May Face Charges after Striking, Killing Man
On behalf of Brown & Crouppen, P.C. posted in Motor Vehicle Accident on Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Police in St. Charles County, Missouri, are investigating a fatal hit and run accident that involved a teenage driver and a victim who was trying to repair his mailbox. The driver, who has not been identified but is a high school student, may face criminal charges related to the car accident, authorities said.
The victim, a 51-year-old man who lived outside of Marthasville, Missouri, was attempting to put his mailbox back up after it had been knocked down the weekend of Oct. 15. As he worked around 4:50 p.m. on Oct. 17, a Pontiac Grand Am driven by the teenage girl approached from the north on Cappeln Osage Road, on which the man’s house was located. Apparently without seeing the man, the girl struck the man and quickly turned around, headed for an auto repair store.
A neighbor heard the accident and ran out to find the victim lying against a fence. He called 911, but rescue workers pronounced the victim dead at the scene.
According to police, the driver, a student at Francis Howell High School in St. Charles, later admitted talking to a relative on her cellphone just before the accident. She said she felt the impact but thought she had hit a mailbox. After arriving at the mechanic’s shop, where the relative was waiting for a ride, she saw the damage and returned to the scene.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, sheriff’s deputies were continuing to investigate the accident as of Oct. 18. They have not ruled out charging the driver with a crime.
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Marthasville area man killed by teen driver while repairing mailbox,” Susan Weich, Oct. 18, 2011