tearful Courtney Johnson said in
court Friday that she has felt guilt and sorrow since the day last
summer when she struck and killed bicyclist Grace Harken while texting
and driving near Osage.“A day doesn’t go by that I don’t think of Grace,” said Johnson, 24, of Osage.
She
said although she never met Harken, she has learned since the accident
that she and the 20-year-old from Riceville had a shared passion to “be
an advocate for others.”
Mitchell County Magistrate Nicholas
Larson fined Johnson $1,000 and suspended her driver’s license for 180
days for using an electronic communication device while driving, with an
enhanced penalty for causing a fatality, a simple misdemeanor.
He said he would waive half of
the fine if Johnson performs 50 hours of community service by speaking
in places such as schools about the dangers of texting while driving.
Johnson
also received a $250 fine for driving too close to a
bicyclist.
Larson said although Johnson did not intend to cause Harken’s death, “one of the worst things that could happen did happen.”
Harken
was a student at Prairie Bible College in Alberta, Canada, where she
was enrolled in the sports ministry and management program. She was the
2013 Miss Mitchell County Fair Queen.
Assistant
Mitchell County Attorney Aaron Murphy said Iowa law is not clear about
the penalties for texting and driving resulting in a fatality.
He
said it appears the maximum penalty is a $1,000 fine and a 180-day
driver’s license suspension, but other prosecutors have told him 30 days
in jail is possible for other simple misdemeanors.
Murphy said Harken’s family asked him about jail time.
Although they did not urge it, they told him “it would not be inappropriate,” he said.
Murphy said he
did not feel comfortable making a recommendation for jail time due to
the uncertainty about it being legal, and left the matter to Larson’s
discretion.
No one from Harken’s family was in court Friday.
Murphy said the Harkens “have been through a lot,” but they understand “this is a tragedy for everyone involved.”
Johnson’s
attorney, Richard Piscopo Jr., said the accident on July 29, 2015, in
which both Harken and Johnson were headed east on Highway 218, was the
result of “a perfect storm” of circumstances.
He said
Johnson, a social worker, was driving into the rising sun on a road with
no bicycle path and was answering a text from a foster parent when she
struck Harken. Although there was no designated path, Harken as a
cyclist had the right to be on the road.
Piscopo said the Harken family has “had a loss they will never recover from.”
However, he said Johnson is active in her community and in her church.
“It’s her life’s work to help others,” he said, noting that’s what she was doing on the day of the accident.
Piscopo
said he thinks the community would be better served if Johnson were
able to keep her driver’s license so she can work and that she perform
community service as part of her sentence.
Johnson said she has lost her job as a social worker because of the accident, but hopes to find another position in that field.
Johnson said she has thought many times about meeting with Harken’s family, “but I have not found the courage.”
A
phone call from the Globe Gazette to the home of Harken’s parents,
Darrel and Christine Harken of Riceville, was not returned Friday
afternoon.
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