Prosecutors charge motorist with negligence in death of cyclist
A Kenosha teenager was charged Monday morning with negligent homicide a bicyclist was struck early Sunday morning on County Highway H in the Village of Pleasant Prairie.
Friends reported the victim, Devin Kunich, 22, was biking home from his job at the Bristol Renaissance Fair when he was hit about 12:30 a.m. He is the fifth cyclist struck and killed by a motor vehicle in Wisconsin since July 1.
No charges have been filed in the earlier crashes, but prosecutors in Kenosha County moved quickly to issue a felony charge against the driver involved in Kunich's death.
Quashae D. Taylor, 18, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $25,000, if convicted.
According to the criminal complaint:
Taylor said she was driving home after visiting her brother in Illinois after midnight Sunday. She said that she could not see very well because of the fog and was driving about 35 mph.
Taylor said she closed her eyes for a second, which she described as a “long blink,” when she heard something hit her car and her roof. Taylor said she opened her eyes and saw that her windshield was smashed in. She began to brake, thinking she hit a deer but could not see anything. She continued to drive north on County Highway H until she reached its intersection with Wisconsin Highway 165 and called for help.
According to Taylor’s cellphone call log, she received three calls from her boyfriend. The last call came at 12:45 a.m. Taylor said she remembered someone saying “Hello” at the same time she closed her eyes.
A separate report came in about a body found on County Highway H. The body was identified as Devin J. Kunich, who was dead. A heavily damaged bike was found nearby, and had three white reflectors in the front wheel spokes and two yellow reflectors on each pedal. No other lights or reflectors were found.
An officer also found a backpack, a pair of shoes, a bicycle seat, a pair of boots, a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit sign and an MP3 player with headphones.
It appears that Kunich was riding his bicycle north when he was struck from behind by the vehicle. The area of the accident does not have streetlights.
Taylor also said she is legally blind in her left eye and suffers from cerebral palsy. She was not wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses, although she is supposed to for driving. Taylor said she lost her glasses. Taylor said she did not have anything to drink nor did she take any drugs except for Ibuprofen.
She submitted to blood-alcohol tests and the results have not been released.
64 Comments for "Prosecutors charge motorist with negligence in death of cyclist"
Commenters will likely post unrelated facts about how they saw a cyclist
run a stop sign the other day, and question whether or not the victim
was listening to headphones.
Sadly, he does not have a chance to defend himself.
The driver was provably and admittedly negligent in multiple ways that
were a factor in this death. Thanks to Kenosha County for moving swiftly
on this and taking it seriously.
Worst-case, 10 years, the driver has plenty of life ahead of her. Not
saying we need absolute vengeance and the maximum. After multiple
mistakes, she stopped when she could have driven away. Let us see
more facts of the case and how the victim's family feels. Condolences to
all of them.
madcoca Aug 08, 2011 1:10 PM
Either way, much negligence by the driver...not wearing her glasses/contacts when you need them for driving is just unacceptable & aggravating.
sncalum12 Aug 08, 2011 1:17 PM
and at 12:30am in the morning...
BVModerate Aug 08, 2011 1:20 PM
judgement was not very good.
However, there is a big difference with this incident and the others that
have happened recently. The District Attorney is stepping up to the plate
and taking action. By doing this quickly they are sending a message to
motorists. Too often in these cases the DA will defer filing and as a result
the charges get removed from the incident. The public does not connect
the dots because of the time lapse between the accident and the
charges.
Hat's off to the DA in this case for acting quickly. If additional evidence
comes to light that exonerates the driver or mitigates the circumstances
they can amend or withdraw the charges. But the important thing is that
they have established a cause and effect relationship about what
happens when a motorists hits and kills someone.
I offer condolences to Mr. Kunich's family.
Perhaps this incident can serve as a warning to other motorists who have
medical conditions that can impact their driving abilities.
And for all cyclists, this should serve as a reminder that we each need to
make sure that we do everything we can to be visible to motorists. If you
ride at night wear a reflective vest and make sure you have lights on your
bike.
BDWIRunner Aug 08, 2011 1:26 PM
AtomicIsBack Aug 08, 2011 1:43 PM
If drivers do not pay attention, they kill people. This time, it happened to be a cyclist, but it could have been a driver on the other side of the road. The car doesn't care who you kill, so it's up to the motorist to make sure it does not happen.
If you are not looking and/or cannot drive properly, then you'll be criminally negligent when you hurt someone, no matter what that other person is doing.
Walktime Aug 08, 2011 1:50 PM
I hate Bikes Aug 08, 2011 2:07 PM
So let's get this straight...blind with c/p and handicapped even more by a phone stuck to her head. The latter is the real reason this happened. Zero doubt about it. When are law makers going to protect people like bicyclists and motorcyclists by making hand held devices illegal to use while driving a vehicle??
52isntbigenough Aug 08, 2011 2:14 PM
dragon Aug 08, 2011 2:15 PM
jeff1968 Aug 08, 2011 3:04 PM
I hate Bikes Aug 08, 2011 3:05 PM