CHELSEA — A Vershire woman who struck and killed a Chelsea pedestrian roughly a year and a half ago has avoided jail time with a plea deal, while members of the Chelsea community have come together to improve the town’s walkability.
Donna Kendall, 66, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of providing false information to a law enforcement officer and leaving the scene of an accident with property damage or injury in an April plea deal.
The plea deal resulted in dismissal of two felony charges of leaving the scene of an accident with death resulting, gross negligent operation with death resulting, which carried a prison sentence of up to 15 years, Kendall previously faced. The charges stemmed from the collision that killed 82-year-old Robert “Bobby” Hutchinson in November 2024.
Hutchinson, a handyman who was frequently observed traveling on foot with the assistance of a walker around Chelsea, succumbed to his injuries at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center 10 days after he was hit.
“Given the facts and circumstances as they were presented … (Kendall) did stop and render a form of assistance to (Hutchinson) and so wasn’t completely disregarding any responsibility to her fellow human being,” said Matthew Dolezal, the traffic safety resource prosecutor representing the state in the case.
It took the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department four months to identify Kendall as the driver of the vehicle that hit Hutchinson and left the scene before police arrived, the Valley News reported in March 2025.
The affidavit in support of the initial felony and misdemeanor charges against Kendall states that after the collision on the evening of Nov. 7, 2024, she did get out of her car to check on Hutchinson, seeking additional assistance at a nearby house and trying to help him up to his walker.
But she did not, as law requires, “provide her name, residence, license number, or the name of the owner of the motor vehicle to any person who is injured or whose property is damaged and to any law enforcement officer,” the affidavit states.
In February 2025, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Vermont concluded that Hutchinson’s cause of death was “complications of multiple blunt force injuries” and “pedestrian struck by a motor vehicle.”
Asked why the felony charge of death resulting was amended to misdemeanor property damage or injury resulting in the plea deal, Dolezal stated “though the elements of a felony could be met, the state feels that by stopping and rendering aid, (Kendall) was showing a modicum of responsibility.”
For the charge of leaving the scene of an accident, Kendall is serving three years of probation, including participation and completion of a year-long restorative justice program, according to the plea deal.
The court set Kendall’s fine for the false information to a law enforcement office charge at around $600.
A message left for Kendall’s attorney, Chelsea-based Daniel Sedon, was not immediately returned on Thursday.
In the wake of Hutchinson’s death, a group of Chelsea residents has formed with the goal of improving walkability conditions for pedestrians, including on Vermont Route 113 where Hutchinson was struck.
“It was awful what happened to (Hutchinson) and I keep holding my breath every time school gets out,” Kate MacLean, a librarian at the Chelsea Public Library who has lived in Chelsea the last 13 years, told the Valley News this week, referring to kids from First Branch Middle School crossing Route 113 where there is no crosswalk.
There are also no crosswalks leading to Chelsea’s North Common, Will’s Store, post office, library or bank, she said.
MacLean leads the Chelsea Walkability Group with Susan Elder, a town lister who has lived in Chelsea since 2000.
“I feel like we’re just waiting for another tragedy to happen,” Elder said.
MacLean and Elder began the process of surveying pedestrian and driver activity in Chelsea, which has a population of around 1,200, roughly a year after Hutchinson’s death.
Since then, MacLean and Elder have been working with the Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Commission on a walkability study along with Chelsea and Vermont Agency of Transportation officials to identify administrative costs of painting more crosswalks and installing features such as radar speed signs for drivers.
For the past two weeks, the group’s volunteers, which have reached about a dozen, have counted pedestrians at different locations around the North and South commons of the village to monitor the problem spots of pedestrian and driver traffic flows.
“We have a nursing home in town and we have senior housing in town,” Susan Elder said. “That’s part of the walkability issue as well since we have a lot of seniors.”
The group is exploring the possibility of seeking a grant from the American Association of Retired Persons to assist in walkability reforms, which Elder said the town is “mulling over.”
“We don’t know what (this process) will cost yet,” said MacLean, who shared that when she first conceived of the group she thought all she needed was a bucket of paint for the crosswalks.
“The roads that we are talking about are Vermont routes 110 and 113 which are owned by the state,” she said. “So we have to go through the state’s requirements (of) safety and accessibility.”
The group’s walkability efforts have been met by the town and state with “fill out the paperwork and get in the back of the line,” Elder said.
“This is definitely a ‘jump through red tape’ kind of an exercise,” MacLean said.
Phone and email efforts to reach interim Chelsea Town Administrator Kasey Peterson and the Vermont Agency of Transportation Director of Communications Amy Tatko were not immediately successful this week.
