Charges against woman who caused ‘horrific’ fatal crash dismissed

The case surrounding a crash that killed two people on Highway 70 in Las Cruces could be over.

Shauna Halladay, 22, was scheduled to be in court Monday morning. Instead, a prosecutor dismissed the charges against her the same day they were filed.

Members of the car crash victims’ family are not happy about it.

Police called it a “horrific” crash.

“It was a very difficult scene. It was a difficult scene for us to look at. It was a difficult scene for the officers to investigate,” said Las Cruces Police Chief Richard Williams.

Halladay’s car vaulted over the median of Highway 70, hitting the car of Marcia Parra and her son, Keian Padilla, killing them.

On March 26, police filed three misdemeanor charges against Halladay: careless driving, no proof of insurance and not wearing a seat belt.

Court documents filed that day show those charges were dismissed by the senior trial prosecutor.

“At this point right now, I don’t have any information as to why those charges were dismissed,” Williams told ABC-7.

Williams said his department completed its investigation and gave the findings to the district attorney’s office.

“What our investigation came to determine was that the elements of careless driving had been met and therefore, we filed those charges regarding this case,” Williams said.

DA Mark D’Antonio refused to comment on the case, saying through a spokeswoman he is protecting the family’s privacy.

ABC-7 spoke with family members who say otherwise.

They did not want to speak on camera, but they did give ABC-7 this statement, “We are disappointed in the lack of information from the district attorney’s office to our family on the progress involving this tragic event in our lives.”

Court documents show the charges could be re-filed after further investigation.

Halladay’s attorney said he does not expect any criminal charges to be filed against his client.