Nearly five years after Army veteran and New Hampshire State Prison corrections officer Patrick Bettens was killed while riding his bicycle in Concord, the woman accused of driving the car that struck him is on trial for his death.

Jessica Warren, 46, of Penacook, pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of causing serious harm while driving after suspension and several misdemeanors. Plea negotiations broke down last year leading to this week’s jury trial at Merrimack County Superior Court. 

A broken bicycle, blue sneakers, shattered sunglasses and a stained New Hampshire license plate were splayed across the evidence table as prosecutor Melinda Siranian worked her way through hours of witness and police testimony Wednesday. 

“Is this the bike that you saw when you arrived on scene?” Siranian asked former Concord police detective Michael Cassidy. 

Siranian held up the evidence to Cassidy who confirmed yes, those were the items seized by the department on September 5, 2018 after Bettens was struck and killed from behind while cycling by a vehicle on North State Street. 

Warren initially faced charges of vehicular assault and driving with a suspended license, both misdemeanors and two violations of going over a solid line and following a vehicle too closely in connection with the fatal crash, according to court documents. Her charges were increased a year later to a felony offense for operating after suspension and causing serious harm, which holds a maximum penalty of seven years.

Prosecutors are seeking the maximum state prison sentence arguing that if Warren had obeyed the law and not operated her vehicle with a suspended license, Bettens would be alive. 

At the time of the crash, Warren was traveling north on North State Street between Roger Avenue and Sewalls Falls Road when she failed to see Bettens operating his bicycle in front of her. Bettens was riding his bike on the right side of the road when he went into the street to avoid a UPS truck that was parked in the bike lane. As he did so, Warren hit the bicycle’s rear tire, ran him over and dragged him while failing to immediately stop. Her vehicle drove onto the curb before crossing the yellow line and striking another vehicle, according to court documents. 

“She said she’d be thinking about the collision since it happened and remembered seeing the cyclist’s face before the collision,” testified former Concord detective Chris DeAngelis. “She had a non-verbal interaction with him and remembered seeing the UPS driver step out at the front of his truck as the bicyclist was going past the truck.”

Bettens was an employee of the New Hampshire Department of Corrections working in the Men’s State Prison in Concord. He was an athlete that loved to bike, run and swim and was training for a triathlon at the time of his death. He was a father of two and a veteran of the U.S. Army. 

Warren did not face charges at first due to the way Bettens was riding his bicycle and swerved around the delivery truck. However, when officers realized Warren was operating with a suspended license and state law allows prosecution under such circumstances, charges were filed and later increased. 

The crash scene, which ran from North State Street beginning at Tenney Street and extending beyond Parmenter Road, was more than 600-feet in length, a very large area for a collision, testified Officer Christian Lovejoy, who was a detective at the time of the crash. When he arrived on the scene around 2 p.m. that afternoon with lead detective Cassidy, both officers observed a dismantled bicycle, debris from the crash, gouges and tire marks in the roadway and blood near the bike lane where Bettens was struck, they testified. 

On Monday and Tuesday, jurors heard eye-witness statements from Michael Graves, who was operating the UPS truck at the time of the crash, Charles Janssen and Joseph Noonan, who were operating their vehicles within the vicinity of the crash and Shauna Lavoie, who was standing in her driveway across from the scene at the time of the crash. On Thursday, jurors will hear testimony from the state’s medical examiner, followed by closing arguments on Friday morning.

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