INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A 70-year-old Vero Beach-area woman will face four years in state prison after she was recently found guilty of driving under the influence in a deadly 2021 crash. The woman – Irene Vatland Testa – failed to yield the right of way to another vehicle, leading to a crash that killed her passenger, according to investigators.
On Tuesday Oct. 14, Circuit Court Judge Robert Meadows found Testa guilty of DUI manslaughter and driving under the influence with damage to property and persons. Testa pled no contest to the charges.
Irene Vatland Testa PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY INDIAN RIVER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Testa, of the 900 block of 45th Avenue, will serve four years in the Florida Department of Corrections, followed by 10 years of probation as part of a plea agreement, court records show. Testa was issued a lifetime revocation of her driver’s license and ordered to go to DUI school. Testa must also pay up to $2,000 in fines.
After the wreck, Testa’s blood samples came back with an alcohol level of .210, two times over the 0.08 legal driving limit, reports show.
Indian River County Fire Rescue crews cut open the vehicle’s roof to free Testa and her passenger, 69-year-old Nancy Salmons Marshbanks, reports show. Marshbanks, of Vero Beach, died at the hospital. Testa was left with critical injuries after the collision.
The driver of the other vehicle, a 52-year-old Palm Bay woman, had non-life threatening injuries, according to reports.
The wreck happened the night of April 15, 2021, at the U.S. 1 and Antilles Lane intersection in the Winter Beach area. Testa was headed westbound in a red 2011 Kia Soul on Antilles Lane, while the Palm Bay woman was driving a black 2022 Honda CR-V on northbound on U.S. 1.
Testa tried to make a left turn onto southbound U.S. 1 when the Honda struck the Kia’s left side in the outside northbound lane, reports show. Both vehicles sustained heavy damage in the crash.
“(Testa) failed to yield the right of way to (the Honda) as she drove into the intersection, directly into the path of (the Honda),” Florida Highway Patrol troopers said in a report.
Testa and Marshbanks were taken to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce, while the Palm Bay woman was taken to Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital in Vero Beach.
Medical examiners previously said Marshbanks died from “blunt impact injury of torso” and classified her death as an accident.
It was unclear when Testa would be transferred to the state prison.
