Woman gets 4 years in hit-and-run that killed Kansas City bicyclist, father of 10
A 28-year-old woman who left a Kansas City bicyclist dead on the roadside near Longview Lake in August was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison.
Kyrie Fields, of Oregon, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty in Jackson County Circuit Court to leaving the scene of a fatal crash and tampering with a motor vehicle. Judge Justine Del Muro sentenced Fields to four years for each felony conviction, with the sentences to run simultaneously.
On Aug. 27, around 6:15 a.m., Kansas City police officers were dispatched to a fatal hit-and-run crash at Longview Road and View High Drive — along the Longview Lake Loop bike route in south Kansas City.
Crash investigators found that the bicyclist, 43-year-old Charles Criniere, had been struck from behind by a vehicle, parts of which were found near the crash site. Criniere was declared dead at the scene.
Family previously told The Star that Criniere was an avid bicyclist who routinely went out on rides Saturday mornings before his kids woke up. He was a father of 10 children, a church deacon and a middle-school teacher.
Detectives used vehicle parts left near the crash site to narrow down the make and model of the vehicle: a white Acura MDX.
They found that an SUV of that type had been towed from a residence in Lee’s Summit shortly after the crash.
Witnesses interviewed at the Lee’s Summit home told police Fields parked in the garage and claimed to have struck a deer. A tow truck came to the house on Aug. 28 and dropped the SUV off in Grandview.
The detectives were also informed by Grandview police that an SUV of that type had been found set on fire in an apparent act of arson on Aug. 28, the day after the fatal crash. Car parts from the crash site were later matched to the burned vehicle, according to court documents.
Fields was arrested Sept. 12. During a police interview, she said she was driving and her boyfriend was in the passenger seat when she was in a hit-and-run crash.
She allegedly admitted to being high on Percocet — an prescription opioid commonly abused by addicts — when she took her eyes off the road. She said she looked up as she struck a bicyclist and then drove to a friend’s house.
She told police the car she was driving was stolen and that she had kept it for a period of months. She did not have a valid license or motor vehicle insurance, according to court documents.
Prosecutors charged Fields in September with the two felony counts she was convicted of Thursday. Under Missouri law, she faced maximum sentences of 7 years in prison for each conviction.
