A 43-year-old Wisconsin Rapids man pleaded no contest Friday to a hit-and-run that killed a 63-year-old Stevens Point man who was out for a walk.
Kenneth L. Butler entered a plea to charges of hit-and-run resulting in death and homicide by careless operation of a motor vehicle in the death of Herbert Wievel, 63, of Stevens Point.
Butler’s no-contest plea indicates that he does not admit guilt, but rather that there is sufficient evidence to convict him.
Retired Marathon County Circuit Judge Gregory Grau found Butler guilty of the counts. Grau also ordered a pre-sentencing probe at the request of the lawyers. According to the criminal complaint, at 4:55 p.m. on March 5, a caller reported an unresponsive man lying in a ditch near West River Drive and Portage County Highway. The Stevens Point Police and Fire Departments responded to the call. Wievel arrived at Aspirus Wausau Hospital via helicopter. He resided a mile from where he was discovered. Two days later, on March 7, Wievel’s nephew texted a detective and said Wievel had been pronounced dead at 8:18 p.m.
The speed limit where Wievel was hit by a vehicle was 25 mph, according to the complaint. Officers discovered two hats, a pair of sunglasses, and some plastic vehicle pieces near where Wievel was located. No skid marks were on the road and no tire tracks were going off the road at the location of the incident. No call had been made reporting the crash to authorities. On March 6, a Stevens Point detective learned a Safelite employee working out of Wisconsin Rapids had hit an unknown object the afternoon of March 5 in Stevens Point.
The detective called the store manager, who said one of his technicians had returned to the shop March 5, during the work day, and said he hit something. The manager said the passenger-side headlight was damaged, there was damage to the hood, and the windshield was “busted,” according to the complaint. The manager said the technician, Butler, was in Stevens Point and Plover March 5.
At 7:57 p.m. March 6, a Wisconsin Rapids sergeant was on a traffic stop on State 34 and saw a Safelite van with a burned-out passenger-side headlight. The detective, who had earlier talked to the sergeant about the vehicle he was looking for, and a detective-sergeant went to intercept the vehicle as it turned west on West Grand Avenue from State 34, according to the complaint.
The vehicle turned north on 14th Avenue North and then turned into a driveway in the 200 block of 14th Avenue in Wisconsin Rapids, according to the complaint. The two officers parked a few houses away on the road. A few minutes later, a Wisconsin Rapids police pulled behind the vehicle on the road.
The officers recognized the driver of the car as Butler, and determined the vehicle was a van owned by Safelite from Wisconsin Rapids. The investigator questioned Butler what had caused the damage to the van. Butler said, “I hit a turkey, I believe,” according to the lawsuit.
The cops asked Butler what the road looked like in the location where the incident happened, and Butler answered there was a lake or a river on the left side and there were woods on the right side. The timing and the indicated area coincided with where Wievel was hit, according to the complaint.
Butler stated he had quit a job at a school, but he was not sure what school. The detective questioned what Bugler was doing When he hit the turkey, and Butler said he was looking down at a map on his phone, according to the complaint. Butler said he did not see what hit the windshield, but he drove over to the side and went out to look straight away. He said he used his phone to make his way from the location and didn’t know where he went.
Butler claimed he had gone to the Safelite office on Sweat Avenue in Wisconsin Rapids for approximately an hour the morning of March 5 and then went to his first job, which was at a school. Butler stated he walked right back to the office after striking the object on the road. Butler again said he looked at his map, then “boom,” he hit something. He stated that he stopped and glanced about, but saw nothing, so he got back in the van and drove back to the shop.
When queried about the hair in the windshield, Butler stated that they were attempting to figure out what it was at the shop and suspected it was wolf or coyote hair, according to the lawsuit. Butler stated that he had been driving 45 or 50 mph and had no idea what the speed limit was in the area.
Officers used traffic cameras to locate Butler’s Safelite van in Stevens Point on West Clark and Water streets at 12:55 p.m. on March 5 with no damage. They noticed the damaged van at Post and Porter roads at 2:09 p.m. that day as per stevenspointjournal
Since Wievel’s death, his neighbors have banded together to urge city officials to make improvements to increase safety along West River Drive in Stevens Point. According to the neighbors, Wievel walked frequently along West River Drive.
Butler’s sentencing is planned for September 4. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and 15 years on extended monitoring.