A New Bedford police officer was suspended for three days earlier this year after investigators determined she did not render medical aid to a woman who later died after being hit by a car.

 

Officer Jennifer Touchette was suspended without pay for not checking on the victims of the deadly crash, which happened on Route 18 back in January. Her suspension was first reported by the New Bedford Light.

 

“Body camera footage and the [internal affairs] investigation showed that for almost three full minutes, you walked around the injuries victims lying on the ground and failed to provide any type of medical aid to them,” Thody wrote in the letter, which is dated May 12. “One of those victims would succumb and die from her injuries the next day.”

 

That victim, identified as 23-year-old Ruby Quiro Santos, was driving down Route 18 North on Jan. 30 she spun out into a snowbank near the Hillman Street on-ramp. Four others were also injured but survived, according to authorities.

 

Two New Bedford police officers, including Touchette, positioned their cruisers in front of and behind Santos’ car to protect it from oncoming traffic, according to a complaint summary obtained by 12 News.

 

See more at wpri.com.