HANOVER, Va. – A grand jury met and handed down indictments against the driver in an April crash in which two young men died.
Seth Fleming, 18, is now charged with involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of Dylan Ballard, age 17, and Elliott Hinton, age 22, according to law enforcement sources.
Ballard was a Lee-Davis High senior, and Hinton was a 2011 graduate of the school, enrolled at Radford University.
They died at the scene when the four-door Dodge Ram eastbound pick-up truck driven by Fleming left the road and slammed into a tree on Cold Harbor Road.
The vehicle was traveling 10 mph over the posted speed limit; 55 in a 45mph zone, according to court documents.
Four people were also badly injured in the April 22 crash.
First responders at the scene of the fatal crash.
A passenger told police that everyone had been drinking and smoking marijuana at the pond where they had gone for a swim after the NASCAR races.
Police also detected a strong odor coming from the vehicle and there were a lot of beer cans found inside.
The search warrant of the vehicle indicated that deputies seized a smoking device, a bottle of Clear Eyes, a bottle of Egyptian Musk blunt powder air freshener, the speedometer instrument panel and a portion of the middle front seat belt.
The involuntary manslaughter charges are a Class 5 felony, and each charge carries one to 10 years in prison, or confinement in jail for not more than 12 months, and a possible fine of not more than $2,500.
However, state laws maintains that if the court finds that the defendant's conduct "was gross, wanton, and showed a reckless disregard for the life of others (such as operating a vehicle at an extremely high blood alcohol content), the maximum prison sentence may be raised to 20 years."
