A Wisconsin woman has been charged in a hit-and-run bicycle crash that killed a father of 10 late last month in Kansas City.
Kyrie Fields, 27, of Oregon, Wisconsin, was arrested on allegations of driving the vehicle that struck and killed Charles Criniere on Aug. 28 near Metropolitan Community College’s Longview campus.
Fields faces two felony charges of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, and tampering with a motor vehicle in the first degree, according to a news release from the Jackson County Prosecutors Office.
At about 6:15 a.m. on Aug. 27, Kansas City police were called to the site of a crash on View High Drive near the intersection of Longview Road. Bicyclist Charles Criniere, a middle school math teacher in Grandview, was declared dead at the scene.
Detectives the day of the crash found vehicle parts left behind at the scene, court records show. They used this evidence to determine that a white Acura MDX had struck Criniere.
The next day, Grandview police found the suspect vehicle, which appeared to have been set on fire near US 71 Highway. Fields was arrested on Monday.
Fields told police that she was driving the Acura at the time of the crash, and that she had taken her eyes off the road to text a friend when she struck Criniere on his bicycle, court records show. She also told police that she was high on Percocet at the time of the crash.
She was driving on a suspended license and was uninsured, according to court records.
Prosecutors are asking that Fields’ bond be set at $100,000.
This story was originally published September 13, 2022 12:17 PM.
