A Union Grove area man who's been charged with homicide by the intoxicated use of a motor vehicle had been drinking at a sports bar for at least six hours straight before allegedly causing a head-on crash that killed a woman and injured her grandson.
38 year-old Christopher Thayer appeared in Kenosha Court Wednesday. In addition to the homicide charge, Thayer faces a second felony for injuring the 7 year-old boy. Bond was set at $25,000.
According to the criminal complaint, Thayer had met a friend at Rival's on East Frontage Rd. between 10:30 and 11:00 on New Year's Day.
Thayer purportedly told an investigator that he had "two or three" drinks per hour before leaving early that evening, although he said he doesn't remember getting into his truck.
Thayer's friend, and the friend's girlfriend, who'd been tending bar that day, tell a slightly different story. They claimed that Thayer had consumed between 8 and 9 drinks from about 11:00 a.m until 5 p.m., and that the defendant refused multiple offers of a ride home. One patron reportedly offered to pay for an Uber ride.
Thayer then left the bar, promising that he wasn't going far. He never returned.
Instead, Thayer drove west on County K, blowing through a stop sign and driving in the wrong lane, according to a witness. The witness, who said Thayer's pick-up had passed him, saw Thayer's vehicle crash head-on into a set of oncoming headlights, even though it appeared that both drivers had tried to avoid the crash at the last minute.
53 year-old Djuana Latshaw--the driver of the car--was pronounced dead at the scene. Her grandson, who'd been in the back, suffered a fractured left pelvic bone, a possible fracture of the left clavicle, a small laceration on the left side of his neck and several abrasions.
-0-