A man from Louisiana died Monday night after being hit by a vehicle while riding his bicycle in Jefferson City.
Officers responded to the area of U.S. 50/63 and Clark Avenue just after 6 p.m. in reference to debris in the roadway, according to Jefferson City Police Department reports.
The first officer on the scene began removing debris from the roadway. While doing so, the officer located a bicycle and then a man, later identified as Eric Krauter, 51, of Slaughter, Louisiana, lying on the roadway at the northern edge of the ramp.
Slaughter, who was riding while pulling a trailer with his bicycle, was westbound on U.S. 50/63 in the outside lane near the exit ramp to Clark Avenue when he was struck by the front passenger side of a vehicle driven by Hailey Crabtree, 26, of Springfield. The impact sent the bicycle and trailer along with Krauter off the right side of the roadway. He was wearing a reflective vest at the time of the crash.
Krauter was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said Crabtree did not stop after hitting Krauter and continued traveling westbound on U.S. 50 until her vehicle became inoperative in approximately the 2600 block of U.S. 50, causing her to pull onto the shoulder. A police officer stopped to assist and later learned it was the vehicle from the fatal crash.
The Cole County Prosecutor's Office charged Crabtree on Tuesday afternoon with leaving the scene of an accident.
The officer who had to responded to Crabtree's disabled vehicle reported her vehicle was missing parts from the passenger side that were later located at the scene of the fatal crash, according to a JCPD probable cause statement. He also reportedly found cloth fibers in Crabtree's broken windshield that appeared to be from Krauter's reflective vest.
Crabtree allegedly told authorities she was driving westbound on U.S. 50 in the right lane near Clark when "something struck the front of her vehicle."
Crabtree claimed a box had fallen from a truck and into the front of her car. She was unable to describe the truck that the box had fallen from.
Crabtree later said she might have fallen asleep while driving and said she woke up when the impact occurred. She assumed it was a box but wasn't sure exactly what she had struck.
Crabtree allegedly admitted she had no intention of stopping and reporting the crash after it happened, saying she was scared and didn't know what to do. She told the officer she had planned to go to Scott Station Road then look at the damage and report the crash.
This article was updated with additional details at 4:45 p.m. Nov. 5, 2019, after a criminal charge was filed.