[B]URLINGTON — The Burlington Police Department has officially concluded that the driver in the fatal December crash on North Avenue that killed a pedestrian was not at fault, according to a report the department filed Thursday with the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
The driver, 27-year-old Alexander Swaisgood of Winooski, was traveling at or below the speed limit and had not been drinking or using drugs before the crash, the report says.
The victim of the crash, 61-year-old Jonathan Jerome, had been wearing dark clothing and crossing the street with his dog at a location where there was not a crosswalk. The Dec. 20 crash occurred around 5 p.m. in low-light conditions.
“These conditions would make it very hard for an attentive driver to identify and react to him being in the road,” BPD officer William Drinkwine wrote in his report.
The accident raised questions about delays in the city’s plans to install crosswalks along North Avenue, including one right near the scene of the crash. The work was expected to be completed during the 2018 construction season but was delayed because of challenges that arose over the project’s use of federal funds.
The victim’s dog, a 14-year-old mixed breed named Lordeyes, has recovered from injuries suffered in the crash and was recently adopted.
The BPD decided not to release Swaisgood’s name immediately after the accident, with Chief Brandon del Pozo saying the operator was also a victim as he had been driving below the speed limit, was not distracted and had cooperated with police.
“Our sensibilities are if you accidentally take a life and you’re not found to be at fault we’d like there to be some time before the world is reading about you in the newspaper,” he said.
Freedom of information advocates questioned del Pozo’s decision, saying that it sets a troubling precedent that allows police to decide when privacy concerns outweigh the public’s right to know.
