LANCASTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE — A driver was acquitted this week of charges involving a fatal crash when the New Hampshire state trooper who led the investigation was unable to testify.
The prosecutor said testimony from Sgt. Todd Cohen was crucial to the misdemeanor vehicular assault case against Emily Ridley, whose car crashed in Lancaster last summer, killing her friend, Brandon Newton.
Cohen is the trooper who nodded off behind the wheel last week while escorting a wide load and struck two bicyclists in Jefferson. The prosecutor tried unsuccessfully to get the judge to delay the trial because Cohen was unable to testify.
The defense said Cohen’s testimony wouldn’t have changed the verdict, but the prosecutor said the testimony was vital.
