Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 12/27/2019 10:22:49 AM
Travis Olson, 18, of Rindge, the driver in a fatal crash on Perry Road in Rindge a year ago, has been indicted on the charge of vehicular assault in the death of one of the passengers.
Nina Colasanto of New Ipswich was a passenger in a 2017 Tesla Model X Olson was driving when it crashed on Perry Road in Rindge around 8 p.m. on Dec. 26, 2018. The Tesla went off the road, split in two and ignited into a fiery blaze. It was Colasanto’s 19th birthday. Colasanto was pulled from the wreckage by friends and passersby and taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts with serious bodily injuries. She died from her injuries on Jan. 19.
Olson was 17 at the time of the crash. He and his second passenger – Chelsea Holombo, 17 at the time, of New Ipswich – were taken to Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough with serious but non-life threatening injuries following the crash.
The Cheshire County Superior Court grand jury handed down the indictment when it met last week. The indictment alleges Olson caused Colasanto’s injuries by driving negligently.
“Olson caused serious bodily injury … burns to her skin and broken bones,” according to the indictment released by the Cheshire County Superior Court on Friday. “Olson caused the injuries by driving the vehicle negligently on a way, Perry Road, in that he drove at an unsafe and excessive speed for the conditions, causing him to lose control of the car and crash, colliding with a tree. ...Olson’s negligent operation of the propelled vehicle caused or materially contributed to the collision.”
Colasanto had graduated from Mascenic High School in 2018.
An indictment is not a ruling of guilt, but a ruling by a grand jury that there is enough evidence for prosecutors to move forward with official charges.