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Former nursing administrator sentenced to 7 years in 2021 fatal crash
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An Albuquerque woman with a distinguished nursing career was sentenced last week to seven years in prison for a high-speed collision on Paseo del Norte that killed 62-year-old Rick Rivera in 2021, court records show.
Donna Helgesen, 58, pleaded guilty in May to vehicular homicide, reckless driving, for slamming into the rear of Rivera’s car at more than 100 mph. She was sentenced Thursday by 2nd Judicial District Judge Stan Whitaker under the terms of her plea agreement.
Helgesen also pleaded guilty to great bodily injury by vehicle for injuring a passenger in Rivera’s car on March 12, 2021. Rivera died at the scene after he was extricated from his burning Toyota Prius.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Metropolitan Court, Helgesen was driving a Mazda westbound on Paseo del Norte NE near Browning when she struck the rear of Rivera’s Toyota.
Data collected from the airbag control module of Helgesen’s car showed that she was driving 106 mph in a 55 mph zone at the time of the crash, a prosecutor said at her plea hearing.
Helgesen’s LinkedIn page shows that she was director of nursing administration at Optum at the time of the crash. Her attorney, Robert Cooper, has said Helgesen lost her job at Optum as a result of the crash.
Helgesen previously had a 26-year career at University of New Mexico Health Sciences, eventually serving as director of Psychiatric Emergency/Urgent Care Services before starting at Optum in August 2020, according to her LinkedIn page.
