Virginia Woman Gets Six Months Jail Time for Bike Trail Crash

May 8, 2014

A 29-year-old McLean woman has pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and hit-and-run charges in a crash with a bicyclist on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail.

The Washington Post reports that Mehak Chopra was sentenced Tuesday to nearly six months in jail after reaching a deal to avoid a more serious felony charge.

A Fairfax County prosecutor says Chopra drank more than a half bottle of wine before mistakenly turning onto the trail near Vienna last June and driving 40 mph. Some pedestrians jumped out of the way, but she hit one bicyclist and kept going. A breath alcohol test registered more than twice the legal limit.

Chopra’s attorney says she may have been suffering a “hangover” from an epilepsy seizure that left her impaired.