A teenage driver has been fined $220 for her part in a double-fatal car crash that killed an elderly Addison County couple last September in Charlotte.
Public records show Isabel Jennifer Seward, who comes from a prominent Atlanta family, received a Vermont civil traffic ticket for an offense listed as âdriving on roadways laned for traffic.â
Seward pleaded no contest to the civil traffic ticket and was assessed $220 by the Vermont Judicial Bureau, court records show.
They also show Sewardâs mother paid the fine.
Seward, who turned 17 last week, provided at least 3 conflicting stories about her cell phone leading up to and after the crash near Church Hill Road on Sept. 8, according to the Vermont State Police accident report.
Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan has come down on the side of transparency when it comes to releasing names of teenagers involved in fatal or serious crashes or providing names of children that have been abducted or lost.
Donovanâs legal opinion comes three months after Public Safety Commissioner Michael Schirling suspended a longstanding Vermont State Police transparency policy. The document had said names of teens are public record when it comes to motor vehicles crashes, are part of investigations, including for AMBER Alerts abductions, or are missing/overdue youths while hunting, skiing or other cases.
Donovan said Monday, Dec. 7, that nothing had been reduced to writing when his office notified Rosemary Gretkowski, the lawyer for the Public Safety Department, a few weeks ago the outcome of the legal research.