Bail Drops $100K For Alleged Drunken Driver in Fatal Rt. 15 Crash

SPARTA TWP., N.J. – Bail has been lowered for a Sparta Township woman accused of drunken driving and killing a Morris County man in a head-on crash earlier this month.

Teresa Verbout’s $500,000 bail was reduced to $400,000 Tuesday, but conditions remained including forfeiting her passport, foregoing drinking alcohol, and being subject to a bail source hearing, nj.com reported.

See related: Morris County Man, 22, Killed In Crash; Driver Charged With Vehicular Homicide

Verbout, 50, has been charged with aggravated manslaughter after she crashed into another driver late on Dec. 8 on Route 15. Verbout was driving southbound in the northbound lanes, nearly struck a police vehicle, then crashed into Robert Hunter, III, 22, of Mt. Olive.

Verbout’s attorney asked the court to reduce bail to $150,000, the amount initially imposed when she was first jailed, the report said. Her bail then jumped to half a million dollars when her charges were upgraded from vehicular homicide to aggravated manslaughter.

See related: Man, 22, Killed By Drunk Driver Remembered Lovingly As ‘Bear’

Police said Verbout was driving in excess of 75 miles per hour at the time of the incident and a blood alcohol content of well over the .08 legal limit.