Still No Charges for License-less Driver Who Caused Fatal Crash

[Original story posted at 4:23 p.m. Update posted at 4:51 p.m.]

Charges still haven't been filed for the Seabrook woman who caused a crash that killed two cyclists on a Hampton bridge Saturday, although police have released information stating the woman was cited for speeding and driving without a license roughly eight hours before the crash.

Hampton Deputy Police Chief Rich Sawyer said Darriean Hess, 20, of Seabrook, was pulled over after doing 59 in a 30-mph zone while crossing north over the Neil R. Underwood Memorial Bridge at 12:45 a.m. Saturday. 

Hess initially told the officer who stopped her that she didn't have her license on her, but later told the officer that she didn't actually have a license, according to Sawyer. Sawyer said "there is no indication" Hess "has ever had a valid license" in New Hampshire, Massachusetts or any other state.

Hess was issued a summons for the offenses and "released from the scene after a friend with a valid license arrived to retrieve" Hess' vehicle, a 2002 Honda Civic, according to Sawyer.

Less than eight hours later, Hess was driving that same vehicle south over the Underwood Bridge — which spans Route 1A — when she crossed into the northbound lane and struck four cyclists, two of whom succumbed to their injuries.

The investigation is ongoing, and Sawyer declined to speak Monday about possible charges and additional circumstances surrounding the investigation into the accident.

"There are developments," he said, adding that officers are "keeping consistent contact with the families of the victims" to keep them "appraised of the developments" of the investigation. "We will keep [the public] appraised of those developments without compromising the investigation."

Sawyer previously told Patch that Hess' vehicle "veered over into the northbound lane" for unknown reasons, struck the cyclists and "road along" various structures, curbing and sidewalk on the bridge "for a distance" before it "popped back onto the road," "crossed back over" into the southbound lane, and "hit several road signs." 

The vehicle came to a stop after it "decimated" the "Welcome to Seabrook Beach" sign, according to Sawyer.

Hess voluntarily submitted to alcohol and drug testing following the crash, and Sawyer said his department is still waiting on the results of those screenings.

The department is also looking into the possibility that Hess may have been distracted behind the wheel, whether due to the use of a cell phone or for other reasons.

"We're investigating all possibilities, [including] the possibility that she may have been on the phone," said Sawyer, who said police would do that with any accident of this nature.