texting while driving

A 17-year-old Missouri girl was recently thrown back in jail after violating her probation. The Northland girl was on probation for causing a fatal texting-while-driving car accident last year. The girl slammed into the car of a 72-year-old great-grandmother in Sept. 2011, injuring her granddaughter in the process.

The grandmother had pulled over onto the grass to avoid the teen's out-of-control car. The teen lost control of her car because she was texting and listening to loud music.

Despite causing the wrongful death of a woman, the teen was only sentenced to five years of probation some community service, and two days in jail. The teen was also ordered to find a job and violated her probation by quitting her job, moving in with her boyfriend without her probation officer's permission and for drinking underage during a house party she threw for her friends while her parents were out of town. A judge recently revoked her probation and sentenced the teen to spend the next year in jail.

"I am stunned that after receiving tremendous leniency in this case initially, this young woman violated her probation in multiple ways in less than four months," Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said to the Kansas City Star. "The sentence that was handed down is appropriate."

The teen will be allowed to go to high school but must return to the jail at night. The Kansas City Star also reports that the teen will have to go randomized drug and alcohol tests during the next year. It is unclear whether she also faced wrongful death litigation in connection with the initial car accident case.

Source: Kansas City Star, "Texting teen who caused fatal crash is jailed after violating probation," Glenn Rice, Sept. 27, 2012