A Plymouth County judge found an Iowa driver guilty after he
hit and paralyzed a cyclist who was on a cross-country trip for charity.
Judge Robert Dull found Michael Vondrak, 29, of Merrill
guilty on one count of operating too close to a cyclist and driving without
insurance Thursday. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 1 at 11:30
a.m.
Cyclist Jared Fenstermacher 32, of Mohrsville, Pa., was on a
cross-country ride to raise money for a cancer foundation. But on Aug. 11, his
journey was cut short when Vondrak hit him from behind with his car on a rural
county road about 10 miles north of Sioux City.
Fenstermacher broke bones in both his arms. He suffered a
concussion and sustained a serious spinal cord injury that has left him in a
wheelchair. He's undergoing treatment at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in
Philadelphia.
Fenstermacher's parents said the driver should face higher
charges and were outraged by Iowa's lack of rules protecting cyclists.
Vondrak's attorney, Justin Vondrak and the Fenstermacher
family did not return a requests for comment for this story.
The Plymouth County Attorney's Office filed notice with the
court in September that it intends to seek jail time or restitution. Iowa law
allows a scheduled violation, such as a traffic offense, to be upgraded to a
serious violation. That gives the court the option of treating the offense as a
simple misdemeanor with the potential for jail time.
"We argued the conduct and the outcome was serious
enough, it warranted more than an ordinary fine," said Darin Raymond,
Plymouth County attorney had said.
Vondrak had originally pleaded not guilty to the charges.