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Keribells
member
NBR: Legislative aid charged w/hit-and-run fatality
Keribells
member
Yikes...what a pickle this 23 year old has herself in! I cannot imagine.
Friday, May 27, 2011, 03:15 PM
An aide to state Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, and former intern for Gov. Rick Perry?s re-election campaign was arrested and charged today in connection with an early morning hit-and-run fatality in Tarrytown.
Gabrielle Jane Nestande, 23, has been charged with failure to stop and render aid, a third-degree felony, and is currently in custody, police said.
The victim has been identified as 30-year-old Courtney Paige Griffin, according to the Travis County Medical Examiner?s Office.
At an afternoon press conference, Austin police said Nestande had taken her vehicle to the home of an acquaintance following the incident. Nestande was taken to work at the Capitol by an acquaintance, police said.
?This morning, ? (the) Texas Department of Public Safety requested to question one of Representative Christian?s employees,? Christian?s office said in a statement issued by chief of state Jon McClellan. ?Rep. Christian and his office are cooperating fully with authorities as needed. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the parties involved.?
Police said the vehicle was located after receiving a tip from an anonymous caller at 9 a.m. The caller told police they saw a vehicle with a broken windshield. The vehicle, a black BMW 325 I-series, was located in a driveway at the 3100 block of Windsor Road, police said at the afternoon press conference.
The victim was walking on Exposition Boulevard between Bridle Path and Bonnie Road when she was struck, police said. A neighbor found the woman?s body in his driveway at about 5 a.m., police said. They said they were uncertain when the incident occurred.
On a Linkedin profile for Nestande, she is listed as an administrative aide at the Capitol since January. She is also listed as working as an a intern for Gov. Rick Perry?s 2010 campaign for ten months.
Perry spokesman Mark Miner confirmed Nestande was an unpaid intern during the campaign.
The Legislature honored Nestande with a resolution yesterday on her work at the Capitol.
?Since joining the staff, Ms. Nestande has managed her responsibilities in an exceptional manner, her professionalism has helped assure the efficient operation of the office and her commitment and hard work have been greatly appreciated by her colleagues,? the resolution said. It went on to commend her ?for her service as an administrative aide in the office of state Rep. Wayne Christian and extend to her sincere best wishes for continued success in all her endeavors.?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: NBR: Legislative aid charged w/hit-and-run fatality
i think youre pretty safe to assume that she had been drinking. my husband also works at the capitol and tons of staffers have been celebrating the upcoming end of session until the wee hours of the morning this week. we have several friends who were out past 4am and then at work the next day to work a 15 hour day. most staffers are mentally and physically exhausted by this point. i dont like to jump to conclusions either, but it's a pretty reasonable theory.
it's such an upsetting story to me. i was reading about it on the statesman and started looking at the other headlines. i literally started crying and had to close the site b/c there were too many horrible stories on there. it's just so sad to me that people are capable of such horrible things. i cannot imagine hitting another human being and just driving off and hoping you don't get caught. WTF was she thinking? it's so, so sad.
this!!!
this x 1000.
DH and I used to jog up Exposition when we lived down there.
What an awful story. My prayers go out to the victim's family.
Why so much focus on the person who commited a crime instead of the victim? I hate it when news articles do that!
Why do people hit and run? If you're drunk, you are in huge trouble, you know it and you are trying to get away with murder. And you probably will be able to. Stay and you've just destroyed the rest of your life. Nationwide the solve rate is very very low on hit and run cases overall (which includes car to car fender benders etc). An article from 2 years ago on KXAN puts Austins it at 5%.
When Shayla Dame was hit, the 2nd driver initally left the scene but was located using a partial plate. The driver was charged with leaving the scene but had actually done nothing wrong and didn't have time to stop as witnesses testified to. So even when you haven't been drinking and really couldn't help it, something in your brain just says RUN. It's no doubt a stupid reflex and I'm not in any way defending it, but it does happen.
And in stark contrast, the 1st driver who struck her actually stopped and used Shayla's cell phone to call her mother and let her know about the accident. Can you imagine? Knowing you've probably killed someones little girl and having the guts to make sure her mother could make it there as soon as possible.
I was still on maternity leave with Emily when that accident occured but it was one of the first major trauma cases RRMC took after achieving their Level 2 Trauma status. Cases like that change people
I drive by her memorial almost everyday and always on my way to work. I know you should never ever speed but I'm not kidding when I tell you that I never speed on Gattis School road. I don't know how anyone can with her huge picture still there... Death sucks.
i'm sure at this point it's b/c they havent released her name yet. and the other woman is already in custody, so she's the easy part of the story to tell right now.
yeah, i saw that they had released her name this evening. earlier today, the victim's name had not been released but the driver's name had.
After reading this, I made the stupid stupid error of going to The Statesman to check out the headlines-- which all seem to be about little ones dying. I think I need to avoid newspapers the rest of the pregnancy.
Yep, I never speed anymore. The other day my friend was following me and she teased me for being a slow driver, because I abide by the speed limit. I told her we'd lost too many people in our lives to automobile accidents. Her response? That she'd been in over 20 accidents, so she was immune...Sigh.
Article with additional details:
https://www.statesman.com/news/local/legislative-worker-charged-after-hit-and-run-fatality-1503600.html
The article says that the police don't believe alcohol played a role, but I think that's crap, as do some of the article's commenters. If she was under the influence at the time of the hit and run, but wasn't questioned by police until hours later, IDK that they could prove whether she was above the legal limit at the time.
One of the comments says that her father was previously involved in a DUI/hit and run and insurance fraud case.
I googled the victim's name, and if I'm looking at the right Courtney Griffin, she was a runner and tri-athlete, had published articles with various local news sources, and went to UT.
Meredith, 6-1-06 and Alex, 11-5-09