Sylvia Hatchell appeals her plea in car accident that killed pedestrian. Here’s why.
Former North Carolina women’s basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell won her appeal on Monday before a Superior Court judge to her guilty plea in a fatal accident last year in Durham.
Hatchell initially entered a guilty plea in District Court last September, but her attorney John C. Fitzpatrick Jr., said there was a miscommunication on the charges. Fitzpatrick said the misdemeanor death by vehicle was agreed upon, but the unsafe movement charge was the reason why she appealed. She asked for and was granted a Prayer for Judgment continued on her guilty plea for death by vehicle and the Superior Court ruling allowed for the dismissal of the unsafe movement charge.
“It was just kind of confusing as to what actually happened,” Fitzpatrick told The News & Observer. “We just want to get all that cleared up to make sure it reflects that the unsafe movement charge, we want that dismissed. And we only want to plead to the misdemeanor death by vehicle charge. In order to do that we had to appeal it.”
Hatchell hit Betty Sue Colby on Jan. 6, 2020 with her driver’s side mirror, according to the incident report, while making a left turn at 2 miles per hour out of the Durham O2 Fitness parking lot. It caused the 89-year-old to fall backward and hit her head, the N&O reported at the time. Colby died two days later from injuries sustained in the fall.
License was to be suspended
By Hatchell pleading guilty, her license was going to be suspended for a year. That’s part of the reason she decided to appeal. Fitzpatrick said she has about 40 different events planned, many of which are philanthropic endeavors, between now and September, and needed to have her license restored in order to participate.
“She’s a survivor of leukemia, which only eight percent of people survive so she has a testimony to tell,” Fitzpatrick said. “So people who have cancer and think that it’s over it’s not unbeatable. She goes out to them whether it be in the hospitals or the programs, and she says, ‘Don’t give up let’s keep fighting this disease.’”
Fitzpatrick noted Hatchell completed both the Street Safe and Right Choice driving class and she has spoken to driver’s education classes about her accident.
Hatchell, 69, led the Tar Heels to the 1994 national title and is in the Hall of Fame. She resigned after 33 seasons at UNC in 2019 after an investigation alleged she made racially insensitive comments and pressured them to play through injury.
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 2:54 PM.