Thursday, September 6, 2012

Driver who kills cyclist Tracey Kleinpell on Sanibel Causeway in May 2011 temporarily loses license

After several rescheduled court dates, Theresa Shirley, the driver who killed cyclist Tracey Kleinpell on the Sanibel Causeway on May 7, 2011, had her court hearing today.  BikeWalkLee's Dan Moser and Steve Rodgers attended the hearing and spoke to the media afterwards about our disappointment with the way the case the handled, although the outcome today was what we expected since the State's Attorney decided not to pursue the charges FHP sent forward.  Moser also reiterated that the pattern of non-motorists being treated differently than motorists in crash investigations and charges continues and cited several recent cases in Lee County.

 NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral

NBC-2 News, Sept. 6, 2012
LEE COUNTY, FL -
The woman who hit and killed a woman riding her bike on the Sanibel Causeway pleaded no contest to failing to maintain her lane. She received the maximum penalty – the loss of her license for six months.

Theresa Shirley was driving on the Sanibel Causeway in May 2011 when she swerved out of her lane and knocked Tracey Kleinpell off the bridge and into the water. She died at the scene.

The State Attorney's Office said they could not file criminal charges in this case because toxicology reports could not show prescription drugs found in Shirley's system caused her to fall asleep at the wheel.

Shirley and her attorney had no comment.

Shirley pleaded no contest to failure to maintain her lane. She received the maximum penalty.
Shirley was fined $1,000, lost her license for six months, must perform 120 hours of community service and attend a day long trauma class.

An attorney for Kleinpell's husband says he was prepared for sentence today.

"He's very upset. Obviously, he had hoped that the state would have prosecuted a felony, and he's obviously disappointed. But he knew that this was going to be the result when the state refused to prosecute a felony case," said attorney Allan Parvey.

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3 comments:

  1. Driving Instructor CoventrySeptember 13, 2012 at 6:27 AM

    This is a very good article. Keep all the work.thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. DarlaSeptember 13, 2012 at 8:47 AM

    Thanks for the feedback.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AndrewJanuary 28, 2013 at 8:39 AM

    I met the witness who see that accident and i think the punishment was fair enough.Link To Website

    ReplyDelete

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