March 19, 2024

Woman pleads guilty in hit-and-run fatal crash

DES MOINES (AP) — A Des Moines woman has pleaded guilty to a hit-and-run crash that killed a man in March.

The Des Moines Register reports that 26-year-old Kristine Annette Gordon pleaded guilty Wednesday to leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, involuntary manslaughter and driving while barred.

The charges stem from a March 16 incident in which Gordon hit 58-year-old Clayton Evan Payne as he was crossing a street in Des Moines. He died at a hospital.

Her lawyer, Peter Berger, says at first she thought she’d hit a dog. However, she was talking on a cellphone with her brother, who was driving close behind her when the accident occurred, and he told her she’d hit a person.

She stopped but panicked and left.

Gordon will be sentenced Aug. 7.