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By Evelyn Puffer
Contributing writer
A collision with a drunk driver going the wrong way on Hwy. 65 in the early morning hours of June 10, 2009, nearly cost a Stanchfield motorcyclist his leg.
On Dec. 3 that driver, Kylie Ann Sullivan, (pictured) 20, of Lino Lakes, entered a straight guilty plea (meaning there was no plea bargain) to the most serious offense arising out of the crash, felony criminal vehicular operation of a motor vehicle in a grossly negligent manner and the three misdemeanor charges, DWI, no valid drivers license and driv ing the wrong way on a one-way street, were dismissed.
Sullivan told Judge James Dehn she had been drinking at a graduation party in East Bethel that night and had consumed “about eight beers.”
Her blood alcohol level two hours after the crash was .12.
She pulled onto Hwy. 65 about 3:30 a.m. driving north in the southbound lane with the car’s owner, Damion Michael McGrath, 20, of rural Isanti, in the passenger seat. At Town’s Edge Road (277th Lane N.E.) she struck a motorcycle driven by Bryant Elmer Brown, 41, of Stanchfield, head-on.
Brown was airlifted to North Memorial in Robbinsdale in critical condition with serious fractures to his left leg. Although amputation of his leg was initially considered, medical staff were able to save the leg and Brown is recovering from his injuries.
Sullivan was scheduled for a pre-trial conference Dec. 3. By entering her guilty plea she will no longer go to trial.
Sentencing was set for Dec. 31, following completion of a pre-sentence investigation and chemical use assessment.
Public defender Bill Robyt noted that Sullivan has completed inpatient chemical dependency treatment and an aftercare program and had no prior DWI offenses. He also requested that a letter of apology Sullivan had written to Brown be placed in the court file.
Sullivan’s co-defendant, Damion McGrath, was also charged with felony criminal vehicular operation and misdemeanor consumption of alcohol by a person under 21 years.
The felony criminal vehicular operation charge was dismissed by Judge P. Hunter Anderson on Nov. 17.
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