Yellowknife (Nov 26/04) - A Yellowknife teen will keep her licence and pay a fine after running over another youth at a high school drinking party, a judge ruled earlier this week.

The teen driver said she did not notice hitting a 16-year-old boy and crushing his leg -- which created a loud "crack," the victim later testified -- during a gathering of dozens of teens in the bush near Kam Lake.

Forty cars were at the site. Testimony revealed that several of the party-goers were drunk.

The pig-tailed, 17-year-old girl was convicted of dangerous driving following a two-hour trial, Monday.

Chief Judge Michel Bourassa allowed the teen to keep her licence, but only for work purposes. He could have suspended her licence completely.

He also placed the teen on probation for four months and fined her $100. The teen was acquitted on a second charge of failing to report an accident.

Bourassa said the fact that the teen -- who was sober that night -- did not realize what she had done was "an incredible testament to her ignorance. She ran over someone and broke his leg. The consequences could have been more severe."

A witness testified that a sedan, which police later discovered belonged to the teen, ploughed into a Sir John Franklin high school student as he was trying to get into a friend's car, parked at a hangout known as Area 51.

The victim -- fresh off finishing 26 ounces of vodka -- fell to the ground clutching his broken limb.

"My leg was crooked," testified the teen.

He spent four days in hospital and was in a cast for three months.

"He could have been crippled for life," Bourassa later said.

Two witnesses testified the car was going about 10km/h as it drove down the narrow trail leading out of Area 51 and continued along at the same speed after the accident, buoying the teen's assertion that she did not realize what she had done.

However, Crown attorney Mike Ewenson argued that not paying attention was not a defence for leaving the scene of an accident, an argument Bourassa disagreed with.