A Georgia teen was sentenced Monday to 36 months of probation and other conditions after pleading guilty for killing two women and a baby in a traffic accident in Woodstock, GA nearly two years ago.
Zoe Reardon, who turned 19 on Tuesday, faced nine misdemeanor charges over the September 2017 deaths of 28-year-old Kaitlin Hunt, 3-month-old Riley Hunt, and 61-year-old Kathy Deming. The charges included second-degree vehicular homicide and distracted driving. Authorities said she was not speeding nor driving under the influence when the accident happened.
Cherokee County State Court Judge Alan Jordan granted Reardon first offender status and besides sentencing her to probation, also ordered for the 19-year-old to complete 240 hours of community service, undergo a safe driver training, pay about $4,000 in fines, and have her license suspended between one and three years. "You’re pretty young," he told Reardon. "You’ve got a lifetime ahead of you. I expect this is something you’re going to have a hard time dealing with the rest of your life."
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Reardon is currently a freshman at Southern Methodist University in Texas. The court said it will allow her to remotely check-in during her probation period.
The accident took place on the evening of September 9, 2017. Hunt, who served with the Coast Guard in Florida, was in town with her after fleeing Hurricane Irma. Deming, a family friend, was with the family as they walked to a concert in downtown Woodstock when then 17-year-old Reardon ran over them. The teen says she didn't see Hunt and Deming, both of who were wearing dark clothes, as they crossed the street. The area didn't have marked pedestrian crossing or traffic lights to illuminate the road at the time.
The Deming family were not satisfied with the judge's decision to spare Reardon from facing jail time. "Where is the accountability?" her husband Mike Deming, an attorney, said after sentencing. "We have to live with this for the rest of our lives. You don’t."