FAYETTEVILLE -- No felony charges will be filed against the 17-year-old driver of a vehicle that struck a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville student in a campus crosswalk, Washington County prosecutor Matt Durrett confirmed.
Andrea Torres, an 18-year-old architecture student from Clarksville, died two days after the Feb. 2 accident.
University police at the scene of the accident cited the Little Rock driver for using a cellphone and for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
Prosecutors then were forwarded the case to consider any additional charges.
"The driver is under the age of 18," Durrett said in an email. "Since no charge that was contemplated could have been filed in adult court, our option in filing any potential charge would have been in juvenile court. As a result, the juvenile code, and it's confidentiality requirement, apply here."
He declined to comment further about any possible charges filed, citing the law as it applies to confidentiality in juvenile cases.
The law in Arkansas states that for juveniles at least 16 years old, a prosecuting attorney "may charge a juvenile in either the juvenile or criminal division of circuit court" when "he or she engages in conduct that, if committed by an adult, would be any felony."
Durrett confirmed that it would be accurate to say the driver was not charged with conduct that, as the law states, if committed by an adult would be a felony.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.