Wisconsin Rapids man pleads not guilty to June 16 hit-and-run in Wood County
WISCONSIN RAPIDS − A 30-year-old Wisconsin Rapids man pleaded not guilty Monday to hitting a woman with his vehicle June 16 and leaving the scene.
Cody J. Provost faces charges of hit-and-run involving great bodily harm and obstructing an officer. During a hearing Monday morning, Wood County Circuit Judge Todd Wolf found there was enough evidence for the case to move forward. A pretrial conference is scheduled for Sept. 15.
According to the criminal complaint, at 10:43 a.m. June 16, a caller reported a pedestrian hit by a vehicle that left the scene of the crash on George Road in the Wood County town of Seneca.
A deputy saw a woman lying on the side of the road and her left leg was injured. The woman said she and her daughter were walking north on George Road with traffic when she was hit by a vehicle from behind, according to the complaint.
A man reported he had seen the woman and her daughter walking on George Road uninjured and then drove by again and saw the woman lying in a driveway Surveillance video from nearby showed a number of vehicles in the area around the time the woman and her daughter were walking, including a red pickup pulling a black trailer, according to the complaint.
A deputy reported finding part of a chrome side mirror from a vehicle in the road, according to the complaint. The mirror was determined to be from a 2012 to 2014 Ford pickup. The daughter said it was a black truck that hit her mother.
Two days after the crash, on June 18, a deputy contacted Provost, who lives on George Road. Provost had a 2013 maroon Ford 350 pickup. Provost said he was at his grandfather's home on George Road June 16 when he heard a helicopter and sirens. Provost said he was not driving with a trailer on June 16, but he has a similar trailer, according to the complaint.
Provost said he drove his trailer to Stevens Point on June 17. He said he did not see a woman walking on George Road June 16, according to the complaint. The back of the mirrors on his pickup were chrome, but they were intact.
An investigator-sergeant spoke with Provost on June 19. The investigator noted the mirror on Provost's pickup was much cleaner on the passenger's side than on the driver's side. He also saw a trailer tire in the back of Provost's truck. Provost admitted to lying to officers when he spoke with them before, according to the complaint.
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Provost said he was driving his pickup and pulling his trailer going to his grandfather's house on June 16 when he was distracted, according to the complaint. Provost said there was a, "90 percent chance he was looking at his phone." He said he heard something hit his mirror, but he did not see what he hit and thought it was a mailbox.
Provost said he felt bad when he found out a person was hit, but he did not know what to do. He said his mirror must have hit the woman and then the trailer ran her over, according to the complaint. He realized his mirror was broken when he got to his grandfather's house.
Provost said he found a mirror similar to the broken one on Facebook Marketplace and drove to Minocqua to get the mirror, according to the complaint. He replaced the broken mirror on June 17 and burned the damaged mirror. Provost said he also changed the look of his trailer by adding wooden sides and removing the spare tire.
Medical records for the woman hit by a vehicle showed her left leg had a displaced thigh bone with at least two breaks. She was placed in a soft cast on her leg going from her ankle to her upper thigh, according to the complaint.
Provost is free on a $5,000 cash bail. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 15 years and 9 months in prison and a two-year revocation of his driver's license.
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: Wisconsin Rapids man pleads not guilty to hit-and-run in Seneca
