Woman charged with vehicular battery for New Year's Eve crash to have first trial Monday
Editor's note: The story below mentions mental health issues or suicide. If you need help or know someone who does, please call 988, the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, available for 24/7, free and confidential support.
A woman charged with vehicular battery related to a hit and run incident which took place New Year’s Eve will be making her first court appearance 9 a.m. Jan. 29 at the Lincoln County Courthouse in Canton, South Dakota.
Officers with the Canton Police Department reported the accident took place around 10:30 p.m. Dec. 31 on N. Bartlett Street in Canton, where a woman driving a 2018 Ford Edge SUV ran into and damaged a chain link fence outside a home and snapped a wooden telephone pole.
The call came in about 9:56 p.m. that night, according to a crash report from Officer Ray Hunter with the Canton Police Department. Before the police could get to the scene, witnesses stated that the driver left the scene on foot. Officer Hunter arrived on scene when the other passenger in the car clarified the woman had left, saying she walked eastbound.
The state of the vehicle gave officers the impression that the car was going at a high speed, according to Hunter’s report, and that all air bags in the vehicle had been deployed.
The passenger was reported to have “blood on his clothes and a laceration to the bridge of his nose.” There was also a “minor amount of blood on the asphalt near the vehicle” which was “on the driver side,” as well as “blood on the steering wheel.”
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The blood around the scene, as well as the passenger’s requests, made it clear that it was important to find the woman to make sure she wasn’t suffering from any serious injuries, according to Hunter. The passenger also expressed his worry that she might “take his Audi car and wreck it too.”
Officers were unable to find the woman at her address or anywhere near the area, after which they received information at the scene of her whereabouts in an apartment. The woman was found in the apartment sitting on the couch and crying, appearing very emotional and having difficulty answering any of the officers’ questions, according to Hunter.
Through the questioning, Hunter wrote that she opened up about alcohol consumption, saying that she had her first drink around 7 p.m. that night after showering. The passenger informed officers that she had had two “fireball shooters” right before getting in the car and “driving westbound on 2nd Street at a very high rate of speed.”
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Neither the woman nor the passenger were wearing seatbelts, according to Hunter. The passenger said he asked the woman to stop the car more than once but to no avail, with the driver running two or more stop signs and driving at 65 mph. At one point, she "turned on a sad song and started driving even faster," according to the passenger. Hunter said he went back and forth between saying "she had to hit the pole on purpose” and “tried making a left hand turn going 65.”
The woman is currently being charged with vehicular battery, hit and run, driving under the influence, reckless driving and speeding. She will be making her first court appearance Monday for the initial hearing.
This is an ongoing case and details will be updated as it unfolds.
This case involves the News Director and Editor of the Argus Leader, Shelly Conlon, whose house was involved in the incident. There is no relation with the suspect.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: SD woman to appear in court for New Year's Eve crash in Canton
