ST. JOHNSBURY — A 28-year-old Lyndon woman accused of causing a car crash in Lyndon last week that killed a 3-year-old boy and severely injured his mother was in court Monday, after giving police differing accounts of how the crash occurred.
Melinda Mitchell, 28, of Lyndon faces two charges of gross negligent operation — one resulting in death and the other in serious bodily injury, according to the Vermont State Police.
She was arrested Sunday morning and pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday afternoon.
New documents offer more details on what led up to the crash, including the allegation that Mitchell had been distracted while driving and not looking at the road.
The Oct. 21 incident happened on U.S. Route 5 in Lyndon, near the St. Johnsbury town line.
Just before 11 a.m. that day, troopers said Mitchell crashed a 2003 Volkswagen Passat head-on into a 2006 Chevy Malibu driven by Sandra Leach, 41.
Leach’s son, 3-year-old Dean Spicer, had been strapped into a car seat inside the Chevy.
He died two days later from blunt-force trauma to the head and neck at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire, state police said.
Leach remained in critical condition at the same hospital as of Friday.
The front engine of Leach’s car appeared to have been shoved back into the cab, according to a state police affidavit, and Leach suffered “at minimum” a broken femur and broken ankle. First responders pried her free with a Jaws of Life-style tool.
The two drivers were in opposite lanes on Route 5, and initially troopers said only that Mitchell had crossed the centerline into oncoming traffic, striking Leach and totaling both cars.
But state police revealed more details in a press release Sunday: They said that Mitchell was distracted while driving and that she failed to properly navigate a curve in the road.
Instead of turning, Mitchell drove straight through the curve and into the other lane, hitting Leach’s car, troopers said.
Leach was wearing a seat belt, state police said. Mitchell wasn’t, and she only suffered a minor ankle injury, troopers said.
According to the affidavit filed in court, Mitchell gave troopers several explanations for the crash.
First she said that Leach’s car had come into her lane. Then she took that back and said she had been looking for a lighter when the crash happened.
She later said she had been distracted by several error lights on in her car. An investigator repeatedly pressed her about whether she had been using a cellphone before the crash, but she maintained she had not.
The investigator also suspected she may have been under the influence of drugs. Mitchell told him that she had used crack cocaine and heroin three days prior, according to the affidavit, but investigators found no evidence of drug use that day.
Immediately after the crash, Leach told troopers that she couldn’t remember what had happened, according to police.
On Sunday, troopers responded to a home in Lyndon where they had heard Mitchell was staying after being released from the hospital. They found her partway inside a bedroom closet and arrested her, according to the affidavit.
She later told investigators that she had been planning to jump out of a window when she heard troopers outside the door, according to the document.
She said she was responsible for the crash, according to the affidavit. She explained that earlier on the day of the incident, she had spent time in a parking lot in St. Johnsbury trying to make the warning messages on her car’s dash go away.
But she decided to drive the car anyway, according to the document.
When asked, she told investigators that the crash wouldn’t have happened had she decided not to drive her malfunctioning vehicle, according to the affidavit.
Mitchell was also driving with a suspended license, state police said, and was issued tickets for that offense, failure to maintain lane and operating without liability insurance.
Department of Corrections Commissioner Mike Touchette said Friday that an arrest warrant had been issued for Mitchell related to the incident. She had been on probation.
Her probation was revoked upon her arrest, according to state police, and she was held in Northeast Regional Correctional Facility in St. Johnsbury on $25,000 bail.
After more than an hour’s delay, Mitchell appeared in Caledonia County court Monday in a wheelchair and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Judge Mary Miles Teachout rejected her attorney’s request to lower her bail.
The Caledonian Record reported Friday that Mitchell has 26 prior criminal convictions in Caledonia County and one in Washington County, prompting some citizens on social media to question why she was free in the first place.
Leach’s family, meanwhile, has started a GoFundMe.
