Judge enters not guilty plea for Nekoosa man charged in fatal September motorcycle crash
WISCONSIN RAPIDS − The case against a 58-year-old Nekoosa man charged with running over a man who had already been hit with a car and then leaving the scene will move forward.
Dwayne R. Corry is facing a charge of hit-and-run involving great bodily harm and knowingly operating while revoked causing the death of Casey L. Wulf. Corry waived his right to a preliminary hearing Friday morning. A preliminary hearing is when a prosecutor must show there is enough evidence to believe a crime probably happened and the defendant probably did it.
Wood County Circuit Judge Nicholas Brazeau Jr. ordered the case to move forward after Corry waived his hearing. Corry's attorney, Blake Duran, said that Corry stood mute when it was time to enter a plea. Brazeau entered a not guilty plea for Corry. His next appearance will take place sometime after the first of the year.
Corry remains free on a $5,000 signature bond.
Faith A. Szelagowski, 39, faces charges of homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle and knowingly driving a motor vehicle with a revoked license causing the death of Wulf. She has a status conference on her case scheduled for Sept. 12.
According to the criminal complaint, at 2:30 a.m. Sept. 16, Wulf was driving a motorcycle west on State 54, near Green Grove Lane when Szelagowski hit the back of the motorcycle with her car, and Wulf was thrown from the vehicle.
When officers arrived, they found Wulf lying motionless on State 54. Szelagowski and another woman were trying to give Wulf CPR, according to the criminal complaint. A deputy coroner later declared Wulf dead at the scene.
Szelagowski said she had been following Wulf home from a tavern when she hit his motorcycle and then backed up in the road. She said she tried to get Wulf up, but then went to a tavern to get help.
Video camera footage from a nearby residence as well as video from Wulf's motorcycle showed that a blue SUV with black rims also was involved in the crash.
On Sept. 19, Corry told deputies he drove home from the same tavern as Szelagowski and Wulf the morning of Sept. 16 and saw a motorcycle on the left side of State 54 and a vehicle on the right, and he ran something over, according to the complaint. Corry said he thought he hit a piece of the motorcycle, and it sounded like plastic. He denied running over Wulf. He said he did not stop and drove home, according to the complaint.
More: Wisconsin Rapids man pleads not guilty to June 16 hit-and-run in Wood County
A deputy went to Corry's home and saw a blue Suzuki SX4 there, according to the complaint. Corry said it was the vehicle he was driving the morning of the crash. The deputy saw damage to the vehicle's front end that was repaired with duct tape. Corry said when he ran something over that night, he had parts that broke and parts underneath his vehicle that were dragging. He said he took off a plastic piece that was dragging and hung it in the rafters of the garage. The deputy saw a black plastic piece hanging from the rafters and it had a piece of hair on it, according to the complaint.
Hair and materials taken from Corry's vehicle matched DNA from Wulf, according to a Wisconsin State Crime Lab report.
A report from the Wisconsin State Patrol said Szelagowski's vehicle hit Wulf's motorcycle and a short time later, Corry's vehicle ran over Wulf as he was in the road, according to the complaint.
Contact Karen Madden at 715-345-2245 or kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.
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This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: Judge enters not guilty plea for Nekoosa man charged in motorcycle crash
