Wisconsin Woman Gets Five Years in Bicycle Fatality
On behalf of Milwaukee personal injury attorney Ric Domnitz of Domnitz & Domnitz, S.C. posted in Bicycle Accidents on Saturday, April 19, 2014.
A 28-year-old Cadott woman was recently sentenced to five years in prison and five of extended supervision once released. She was found guilty of the 2013 death of a Stanley dentist who was killed while riding his bicycle when the woman plowed into him at the intersection of 100th Avenue and County G.
The judge refused to refer to the deadly incident as an accident, insisting that it be called a homicide, as the woman was drunk at the time of the 5:24 a.m. impact after a night of celebrating at a local bar.
The hit and run was the third conviction for the woman, who previously had two convictions for OWI in 2006 and four juvenile alcohol related convictions as well. In 2007, she received treatment for alcoholism. While sentencing her, the judge read a statement back to her that she had made when previously up on the OWI charges: “I know that I can’t nor do I want to drink again.”
After crashing into the dentist, she did not attempt to render aid to him. She instead called a friend to take her back to the local tavern where she continued drinking. She did not call authorities for approximately six more hours.
Nine hours after the fatal crash, the woman’s blood alcohol level was 0.123. While she resumed drinking at the tavern, the man’s crumpled body lay in a ditch, his mangled bicycle intertwined in a barbed wire fence.
People who drink and drive and maim and kill others deserve to be held accountable on both the civil and criminal levels. Even without a lengthy prison sentence handed down to the offender, a civil judgment can be obtained that can force the individual and his insurance company to settle. A settlement can help ameliorate the pain and suffering they have caused. If you need legal representation following an accident with a drunk driver, contact a Milwaukee personal injury attorney with Domnitz & Domnitz, S.C.
Source: The Chippewa Herald, “Holler gets five years prison for fatal crash” Rod Stetzer, Apr. 10, 2014