Connecticut Teens Facing Charges After Friend Dies in DUI Crash
GLASTONBURY, Tenn. — Two Connecticut teens have been charged with a misdemeanor after police say they let their friend, who was drunk, drive home. She died, and now authorities say their inaction cost the teen her life. 17-year-old Jane Modlesky was driving alone in Glastonbury, Connecticut when she crashed the SUV she was driving into a tree in July and was killed. Her blood alcohol level, according to police, was .27, 3 times the legal adult alcohol limit. Now two of the four teenagers who were driving with Modelsky are being held accountable for allowing her to drive drunk. “These two juveniles knew that she was intoxicated, knew she shouldn’t have been driving and allowed her to drive,” Agent James Kennedy with Glastonbury Police said. Glastonbury police say the two teens were the last to get out of the car, leaving Modelsky to get behind the wheel and drive herself off. She drove only half a mile before crashing. After a thorough investigation, police arrested the teens this month and charged them with reckless endangerment. “There are so many things that could have been done,” Kennedy said. “So many things. And to be worried about getting into trouble for sneaking out, is that really important?” The arrests sent shockwaves through the Glastonbury community, still shaken up by the tragedy. On a Facebook page, remembering Modlesky, one friend recently wrote: Today brought me, and many others I’m sure, right back to the week you left us. The case is again raising questions about moral obligation vs. Legal responsibility. “We expect adults to act with a certain degree of judgment and reasonableness but when someone is 16 years old, it’s sort of hard to place the kind of criminal responsibility on them that we would place on an adult who hands keys to a drunken driver,” Paul Callan, CNN legal analyst said.
