The teen who caused a fatal Bay Bridge crash will not be criminally charged because the alcohol she consumed did not impair her driving, the Queen Anne’s County state’s attorney said.
Tests show the blood alcohol concentration of Candy Baldwin, 19, was .03 after the Aug. 10 crash, well below the .07 threshold for impairment, Queen Anne’s County state’s attorney Frank Kratovil said in a statement released Thursday.
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“Although the evidence clearly provides a basis to allege the driver consumed alcohol during the evening and thereby violated a license restriction imposed on drivers under the age of 21, the evidence clearly does not provide a basis to allege the driver was under the influence or impaired by alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident,” Kratovil said in a statement.
Under Maryland law, a person with an alcohol concentration of .05 or less is presumed not to have been driving under the influence, Kratovil said.
Baldwin, who also tested negative for drugs, told police she was traveling home around 4 a.m. from her mother’s wedding and fell asleep behind the wheel of her Camaro. Investigators said she crossed the center line during two-way traffic on the bridge’s eastern span, sideswiping a truck driven by John Robert Short, 57, of Willards.
Short’s truck swerved across the bridge and slid on top of a concrete barrier before rolling into the Chesapeake Bay. He died in the crash.
“This was a very tragic accident,” Baldwin’s attorney, Steve Allen, said Thursday. “Ms. Baldwin has great concern and sympathy for the Short family, who are daily in her thoughts and prayers.”
In addition to the license restriction violation, Baldwin has been charged with failing to drive right of center and negligent driving. In his three-page explanation, Kratovil said negligent acts causing the death of another may form the basis of a civil wrongful death suit.
Witnesses behind Baldwin’s car told police they saw her Camaro cross the center line just prior to the accident, but did not observe erratic driving prior to that point. Witnesses including police who spoke to Baldwin immediately following the crash did not notice signs of impairment, he said.
Baldwin, who suffered serious knee injuries in the crash, has faced public criticism for comments posted on her MySpace page, which once described her wild partying and displayed photos of her behind the wheel of her car with a bottle of alcohol.
She updated the page earlier this month to thank those who have supported her.
“I’m sorry for those who haven’t, because you can’t possibly imagine the way I feel,” she wrote. “… I never knew it was possible for your heart to hurt over someone you’ve never met.” [email protected]
