There’s little doubt that 19-year-old Esmont resident Sierra Thomas adored her friend Ava Bright, but Albemarle County police have charged Thomas with manslaughter for the car wreck that killed Bright. They allege that Thomas blacked out while driving after smoking cannabis and killed Bright in an April 30 crash.
"At the scene of the crash Thomas told [an officer] that she had ‘just done a pen’ and asked if she killed her friend," according to an affidavit by Albemarle County police officer David Sprouse.
Sprouse filed the affidavit the day after the crash to obtain a search warrant seeking medical records for Thomas, who was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at the University of Virginia Medical Center.
"To knowingly drive a motor vehicle," Sprouse wrote, "after consuming, smoking, or injecting substances constitutes evidence of reckless driving."
What Sprouse’s 11-week investigation found was THC in Thomas’ urine, and that led him to charge Thomas with a crime more serious than reckless driving, which is a misdemeanor. On Wednesday, Sprouse contacted Thomas and told her he had a warrant for involuntary manslaughter, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. She was arrested that afternoon at the police station.
One thing Sprouse contends he found was a bogus Pennsylvania driver’s license in Thomas’ possession.
"I know the PA drivers license is fake," he wrote, "because the number returned to a male subject and was not the person listed on the license."
Sprouse alleged that Thomas has a previous conviction for driving under the influence, the details of which were not revealed in his filing. While the magistrate processing Thomas’ arrest found no convictions, county police spokeswoman Logan Bogert said that Sprouse’s allegation is correct and that as a juvenile conviction, such a record would not show up on a public search.
According to records in Albemarle County General District Court, additional charges filed Thursday include possession of a fake driver’s license, driving without a license and failure to wear a seat belt. Her fatally injured passenger also was not wearing a seat belt, according to the county.
April 30 was a Wednesday, an unseasonably warm day without daytime precipitation, according to weather records. According to the officer’s reports, it was around 3:21 p.m. when Thomas, driving a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu, left the pavement of Irish Road and struck a tree near the intersection of Chestnut Grove Road, southwest of Esmont.
A 2024 graduate of Monticello High School, Thomas subsequently took leave from her part-time job at Tropical Smoothie Cafe, according to information she provided upon her intake at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, where she remains held without an offer of bail.
Bright, 18, died at the scene of the crash. She lived in North Garden and, according to social media, had just begun working at Crossroad Store, a North Garden staple.
"She had the most beautiful smile and she lit up the room when she walked in," the store posted. "She had the sweetest, kindest, most gentle soul and will be missed greatly by all of us at the store."
Another person who misses Bright is Thomas. In public postings, Thomas called Bright her "bestie" and mourned her death.
"Cracking a top for you today," Thomas wrote in a public Facebook post last month on what would have been Bright’s 19th birthday.
Thomas’ preliminary hearing is slated for Sept. 4. Court records do not yet indicate the hiring of an attorney.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com