‘No contest’ plea in fatal Onslow County crash: Driver sentenced to 15 days in jail

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Tyler Johnson just started his new career as an Onslow County detention officer, but less than a month later, the 21-year-old was killed in a head-on collision in February of 2024.

“I mean the process has been really hard. At first, it was an initial shock obviously. We weren’t expecting to get that kind of news, it was just out of the ordinary,” Tyler Johnson’s sister Jadyn Jackson said.

Amanda Vanbuskirk, the woman who hit Johnson when authorities say she crossed the center line off Comfort Road outside of Richlands pleaded no contest Monday, meaning she will not admit guilt, but accepts the consequences of conviction for misdemeanor death by motor vehicle.

The judge ordered Vanbuskirk to serve 15 days in jail and two years of supervised probation.

“I’m not happy, I’ll be completely honest with you. I think any fatality on the side of the road should include a lot more investigation than what was completed,” Johnson’s sister Ciera Macri said.

Assistant District Attorney Chris Dunnagan says Vanbuskirk did not seem impaired at the scene, according to troopers, but after a blood test, she tested positive for methamphetamine in her system.

But methamphetamine does not automatically prove impairment Dunnagan says because it shows positive for several days after use, therefore the state has to prove impairment beyond a reasonable doubt.

For Johnson’s sisters, they say justice was not served for Tyler.

“Today I feel like we did not get justice. I’m hoping that maybe that she’ll mess up on her probation and maybe we’ll see more justice on the back-end of this. But 15 days after taking a life...It’s just not enough,” Macri said.

The judge also ordered Vanbuskirk to get a substance abuse assessment, drug screening, serve community hours, lose here license for a year, and is ordered to have no contact with Johnson’s family.