18 Year Old From Reedsburg Charged in Fatal Crash

An 18-year-old has been charged with homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle stemming from a crash that killed a teenage girl waiting for a school bus outside Reedsburg earlier this year. Kevin Green of Reedsburg made his initial court appearance in the case Wednesday afternoon. He’s charged with hitting and killing 13-year-old Evelyn Gurney as she waited for a bus on Highway 33 east of Reedsburg on the morning of May 12.  A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board released in June found Green was heading west on Highway 33 when he swerved to the right of stopped school bus, sideswiping it in the process, before hitting Gurney. Green suffered minor injuries in the crash; the bus driver and 16 students aboard were not hurt. According to a criminal complaint released Wednesday, Green told a deputy he was either looking at his radio or out at a field when he saw the stopped bus about 200 feet in front of the Ford F-150 he was driving. Green reportedly slammed on his brakes and swerved into the ditch. He later said he didn’t know he had hit anyone until he got out of his truck and saw Gurney lying on the ground near his truck bed topper, which had come off in the crash. Green denied being on his cell phone at the time of the crash, but a review of his phone found he had both sent and received a text message within a minute of the crash and had an outgoing message ready to send. Law enforcement determined Green was traveling 63 mph in a 55 mph zone. Green’s signature bond was set at $25,000. He is set to return to court on November 9th.