DRIVER IS CHARGED IN FATAL ACCIDENT

[Tafari]

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Pubdate: Dec. 20, 2005
Author: DAVID DOEGE ddoege@journalsentinel.com

DRIVER IS CHARGED IN FATAL ACCIDENT

Man tested positive for marijuana in crash that killed woman, 80

Waukesha - A driver has been charged with vehicular homicide under the
state's drugged driving law in connection with a head-on collision in
Muskego in September that fatally injured an 80-year-old woman.

Brent O. Ehret, 21, of Lake Geneva, is scheduled to appear Jan. 9 in
Waukesha County Circuit Court on a charge of homicide by use of a
vehicle with a controlled substance in his system.

He also is charged with injury by use of a vehicle with a controlled
substance in his system, possession of marijuana and possession of drug
paraphernalia.

According to the criminal complaint:

The collision occurred about 3 p.m. Sept. 2 on Racine Ave. when a
southbound car driven by Ehret swerved around a vehicle beginning a turn
in front of him.

As Ehret's car swerved, it crossed the centerline and slammed into a
northbound car driven by Mary Knurr, 47. Knurr, who veered toward the
shoulder in an attempt to avoid the collision, suffered broken bones and
internal injuries.

The passenger in Knurr's car, Genevieve T. Michalski, who was Knurr's
mother, was pronounced dead on arrival at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran
Hospital in Wauwatosa.

When he was questioned, Ehret initially said he was not sure where he
was headed or where he had been but added that he thought he was on his
way to Lake Geneva when the crash occurred.

"I couldn't stop," Ehret told emergency personnel. "I looked up and saw
brake lights on, so I swerved."

A witness subsequently told police that Ehret "jerked his car" around
the turning vehicle.

A trace amount of marijuana was found in a small bottle in Ehret's car,
along with a pipe. Ehret told investigators that he had smoked marijuana
the day before but not on the day of the crash.

A sample of blood was drawn from Ehret that day, and a subsequent
analysis of it detected the active ingredient in marijuana and
byproducts from marijuana.