Driver leaves scene of accident one block away from sheriff's department
A Bloomfield woman is accused of leaving the scene of an accident after she hit a guardrail causing her airbags to deploy and severe damage to the guardrail but did not call law enforcement even though this crash occurred just a block away from the Greene County Sheriff's Department.
Jacqueline Lynn Grostefon, 32, Bloomfield, is facing a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, a Class B misdemeanor.
Deputy Harvey Holt was dispatched on October 31 to take a report on the accident after a woman called the sheriff's department and said her vehicle had been involved in an accident on October 30 while a family member and his girlfriend were out in the vehicle.
Grostefon admitted she was driving the vehicle when the accident occurred around 9 PM. She allegedly told Deputy Holt she was northbound on County Road 70 E and stopped at the stop sign at SR 54. She said she then turned left on the highway and deer was in the roadway so she swerved left to avoid the deer and hit the highway guardrail causing the airbags to deploy.
Although the vehicle was damaged, she drove it home.
Deputy Holt reported Grostefon said she didn't report the accident because she didn't know she had to. He noted she had a working cell phone and the jail was a block away.
Grostefon’s boyfriend who was a passenger confirmed that when they turned left on SR 54, Grostefon swerved to miss a deer then struck a guardrail and it was damaged. He also said he had a cell phone and allegedly admitted he knew the jail was one block away.
Deputy Holt reported the guardrail at the intersection of SR 54 and CR 70 E was damaged and bent and will have to be replaced.
A criminal case was filed against Grostefon on November 9 and a summons was issued commanding her to appear in Greene Superior Court on December 15 for her initial hearing.