Woman pleads guilty in traffic death

Hardly a week goes by that we don’t report on criminal charges being filed as the result of a traffic fatality. Rarely, however, do we hear that prosecutions are successful. But today, a young woman was convicted in a case over three years old. Twenty-two year old Fabiola Mendez was fined three thousand dollars, or in default nine months in jail, after she pled guilty to causing death by careless conduct. On November twenty-second, 2002, she knocked down cyclist Nicholas Lewis while driving down Vernon Street. Lewis died while undergoing treatment at the K.H.M.H. Evidence was presented that Mendez was speeding and at the time of the incident had a learner’s permit, which entitled her to drive only in the company of the holder of a valid license. She has until the end of March to pay her fine.