A 14-year-old driver hit an Idaho mom, who died. Now he may face a manslaughter charge

The Canyon County Sheriff’s Office will seek a manslaughter charge against a 14-year-old driver who struck a woman on her bike on the Fourth of July, a crash that led to her death, the agency told the Idaho Statesman on Tuesday.

Kellei Bunn, 34, of Nampa, was riding her bike after attending the fireworks show in Melba when an SUV, driven by the 14-year-old, hit her around 10:45 p.m. on Southside Boulevard, near the Melba Road intersection in Melba, sheriff’s office spokesperson Joe Decker previously told the Statesman.

Bunn died at 6:45 a.m. Sunday, her father, Randy Bunn, told the Statesman in an email.

The Canyon County Sheriff’s Office is seeking charges of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter and operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent against the Kuna teen, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office Tuesday afternoon. The county prosecutor’s office will review the case before filing charges, the release said.

‘A shock’ to see victim’s injuries, sister says

The accident was a hit-and-run, according to the sheriff’s office. After the teen ran into Bunn, he drove for a short distance, pulled over and went to his father before returning to the scene, according to the release. Though a 14-year-old can get a driver’s permit in Idaho, Sheriff Kieran Donahue said in the release that the teen did not have a license.

After the crash, Bunn spent a week and a half in a coma at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, Randy Bunn previously told the Statesman. While she eventually woke up and became responsive, her family didn’t expect her to recover from the crash because the damage to her brain was so severe, he said.

Her injuries were extensive. Besides an aortic tear, which doctors fixed, she had a ruptured spleen, liver damage, brain bleed, broken ribs, broken left arm and broken left leg, said her sister, Amanda Stocking, who organized a GoFundMe page to cover medical expenses and the family’s travel to Portland.

Stocking spent a couple of days with Bunn at the hospital. “She looked better than I thought she would, but it was still a shock to see her like that. You can never prepare for something like that,” she told the Statesman in a phone interview Tuesday.

During that visit, Bunn opened her eyes a little but couldn’t speak. Stocking said that when she asked her sister if she wanted to see photos of her kids, Bunn nodded her head, then looked at them.

Accident ‘will forever change’ driver’s life

The day before Bunn died, she wasn’t responsive, Stocking said. Medical personnel were with her when she died, but her parents and daughter weren’t at the hospital yet because it was so early, Stocking said.

“I knew it was going to happen eventually,” she said. “(But) it doesn’t really hit you until it does happen.”

Bunn’s life was finally coming together at the time of the crash, according to her family. She was 120 days sober after struggling with meth addiction and had just gotten an offer for a full-time job training horses, said her parents, Randy and Linda Bunn.

It looked like she might be able to get custody of her 8-year-old daughter, Aleiah, who lives with her grandparents, Randy Bunn said. Now her daughter, whose father was fatally stabbed when she was a baby, is orphaned.

As for the 14-year-old suspect, Stocking said she wants him to take accountability. But, she added, “It’s as much of a tragedy to their family and to him as it is to ours, because this will forever change his life.”