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"
will complain "What was he doing at 12:30 in the morning?" The answer
is he was going the hell home. Was he probably not wearing bright
enough clothing, or enough light? Probably. I wouldn't know, I've never
had the misfortune of having it personally matter. Should the driver
have been wearing her glasses? Probably. Should she have been paying
better attention? Probably. Overall, this sounds like a horrible, horrible
case of simple things gone wrong. Yes, I believe she shouldn't get off
scot-free, but one life has already been lost to this incident. Let's not
ruin another in retribution, okay?
Shresh Aug 08, 2011 6:05 PM
Ruffles Aug 08, 2011 6:11 PM
My guess is that you were supposed to pick this kid up at the Renassiance Faire but didn't for some reason. Or maybe you lost a loved one in a bike-car accident.
Whatever the case, take a few deep breaths and collect your thoughts before posting more pyschotic ramblings. Better yet, down an Ambien and go to sleep for a day. All your hysterics have accomplished here is to destroy an otherwise interesting debate.
paul22 Aug 08, 2011 6:39 PM
paul22 Aug 08, 2011 6:40 PM
Would it have made a difference here?......very likely not.
Do you need vision in both eyes to drive?....NO.....you only need vision in 1 eye.
Would it have mattered in this case?.....very likely not......since both eyes would have been closed, and the phone to her ear.
We ALL need to understand how fast something terrible can happen.
Speed limits are there for a reason......and being thrown 300 feet does not happen at 35 mph.
She likely did not mean to speed, and does not know how fast she was going........but the end result is the same.
I'm sure that this will be with her the rest of her life.
There are NO winners in a situation like this.
Sadly, the biker lost the most, his life.....there is no replay button on real life.
.
wisdv Aug 08, 2011 6:55 PM
Obviously, this was not an intentional act but even unintentional acts of this magnatude require consequences.
May God bless the family through this incredibly hard time.
BrewCityChris
BrewCityChris Aug 08, 2011 6:56 PM
Obviously, this was not an intentional act but even unintentional acts of this magnatude require consequences.
May God bless the family through this incredibly hard time.
BrewCityChris
BrewCityChris Aug 08, 2011 6:57 PM
BrewCityChris Aug 08, 2011 6:59 PM
PrettyBird32 Aug 08, 2011 7:23 PM
I'm not sure what the purpose of your comments are? They mostly seem to be argumentative and accusitory. I'm sure if Mr. Kunich had the chance to make some different choices he would, but unfortunately he will not have that opprotunity. Hopefully the driver will pay an appropriate consequence for her mistakes that evening, and make better choices in the future.
It seems like these car / bike incidents always turn into these back and forth pointless discussions about who has more rights than the other, calling each other names, making derogatory comments about choice of clothing etc. All of this gets us nowhere!
As observers of this terrible event, I think we owe it to the people involved to learn and improve ourselves when we take to the road, either by car or by bike.
I've posted a link to the Wisconsin DOT below that discusses the rules of the road for cyclists, motorist reminders and various other links concerning operators responsibilities. Maybe instead of the back and forth ramblings both cyclists and drivers could spend some time learning to respect each others rights to the road so we can coexist better.
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/safety/vehicle/bicycle/rules.htm
Will you read it?
BrewCityChris Aug 08, 2011 8:20 PM
What's the purpose of your comments? Oh and another thing, your link doesn't work, otherwise I would freshen my memory with the rules of the road, such as stopping at Stop Signs, using headlight's at night, etc....
PrettyBird32 Aug 08, 2011 8:41 PM
The purpose of my comment was for people to learn something from this terrible event instead of degrading others. You may want to try to copy and paste into your browser, if you'll take the time to read it. Sorry the link doesn't work.
BrewCityChris Aug 08, 2011 8:56 PM