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"
"the roads are filled 24 hours a day with bad, drunk, distracted, texting,
angry, handicapped drivers who shouldn't be on the road. That will never
change, even if the death penalty is enacted for hitting a bike with your
car. People will always drive like crap."
I refuse to accept that premise. This level of poor driving is really unique
to the US among industrialized nations. There are boatloads of statistics
that show the rates of accidents in other countries. The US is horrible in
this respect.
Licensing in other countries is FAR more difficult than in the US. And in WI
we have some of the weakest laws and weakest penalties for not
adhering to those weak laws.
I drive roughly 30K miles per year and I drive in most states in the lower
48. I ride my bike about 1500 miles per year. I see the lousy driving
habits of WI drivers (and out of state drivers) every single day -
regardless of whether I am in my car or on a bike. In Dodge County where
I live it is reflected in the outrageously high death rate of drivers under
age 20. It is not just bicyclists being killed, it is pedestrians,
motorcyclists, buggy drivers and even the motorists themselves.
With the exception of some of the large cities, WI motorists - in general -
are lousy. This is a product of our culture. We make the laws and enforce
the laws based on the relative importance we ascribe to various
activities. In WI somewhere we collectively made the choice that driving
a motorized vehicle with 4 or more wheels is not a serious responsibility.
That attitude needs to change.
BDWIRunner Aug 08, 2011 4:26 PM
PrettyBird32 Aug 08, 2011 4:32 PM
PrettyBird32 Aug 08, 2011 4:36 PM
boverboard Aug 08, 2011 5:08 PM
PrettyBird32 Aug 08, 2011 5:13 PM
You people need to listen to yourselves and the facts... First off you are all arguing both sides of the issues and not paying attention to the facts.
The facts are the cyclist WAS riding legally, the driver was in violation of multiple laws and regulations. When I signed on here to this BS it was to make the observation that the drivers LATE MODEL auto was TOTALED by the impact on Devin's body... Speed limit at the location was 35 miles an hour. ( The vehicle and scene were just shown on WTMJ 4 news). This adds up to nothing less than murder through neglegence. You can try to spin it anywat you want to TRY to blame the cyclist but the facts are simple, NO MATTER WHAT ONE PERSON DOES, THE LAW REQURES A DRIVER TO HAVE THEIR MOTOR VEHICLE UNDER CONTROL AT ALL TIMES. This driver DID NOT. Stop trying to mitigate the drivers blame, the law said right out SHE COULD NOT DRIVE WITHOUT CORRECTIVE LENSES. She MURDERED Devin BY CHOICE.
dragon Aug 08, 2011 5:15 PM
PrettyBird32 Aug 08, 2011 5:37 PM
Ruffles Aug 08, 2011 5:58 PM