A man participating in a triathlon at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer state park was killed Saturday morning by a hit-and-run driver who police said was drunk.
Kenneth Yates, 25, of Louisville was charged with murder, drunken driving and assault on an officer, according to Alicia Smiley, a spokeswoman for the Metro Police Department.
Officials said the victim, John Carr, 47, of Owenton, was on his bicycle on Chamberlain Lane when he was hit from behind by a car driven by Yates about 8 a.m. Police said the car was traveling at high speed.
Smiley said Yates continued driving, with the bicycle on his windshield, until he was stopped by an off-duty Northfield police officer directing traffic for the triathlon.
Yates fled on foot to a house nearby, Smiley said. She added that his mother brought him back to the scene, where he was arrested. Carr was pronounced dead at the scene of multiple blunt force injuries, according to deputy Jefferson County coroner Eddie Robinson.
Smiley said the assault on an officer charge stemmed from resistance by Yates at the time he was stopped.
The triathlon, the 28th sponsored by Sawyer park, consisted of a half-mile swim, a 14-mile bike ride and a 3.1-mile run.
I just returned from the race. I can only tell you what I heard, and can’t vouch for the accuracy, but someone that saw the accident site said it was a man.
Yes, that would be the ninth circle known as Treachery.
The ninth and lowest circle, situated at the bottom of a deep well leading down to the center of the earth, is set aside for traitors and this drunk idiot. The circle takes the form of a frozen lake called Cocytus (the fourth river of Hell), and this idiot will be frozen into this lake’s ice. He will be completely covered in the ice and frozen solid for eternity.
Wow - continued driving with the bike on the windshield - just wow - if this isn’t a long jail sentence, I don’t know what you have to do to get one. X2 on that.
I literally just got home from my long ride and had about 10 texts from friends asking if I knew anything about the incident. I have just heard from a friend of a friend who was one of the first responders and he said the scene was bad. Two other triathletes were almost hit by the driver and saw the whole thing.
In the last three months I have been hit by a side view mirror and called the cops and they said they couldn’t do anything about it because there were no witnesses. I know of three other friends that have been hit by cars luckily they weren’t hurt very bad. And I am leaving out the close calls which are normally 3-5 on each ride. We as a cycling community need to do something about this. Does anyone know someone in the DAs office. I know a couple of judges and am going to call them on Monday and talk with them.
Yikes. Talk about tragic accident. My hunch is he’s a repeat DUI offender driving without a valid license. If he goes to trial, I’ll doubt he gets a sympathetic jury. DUI is usually a clear cut case whether the driver kills another driver or pedestrian. You’ve got an off duty cop as a witness and who was assaulted. Also not good. Hopefully, he’ll get some serious jail time.
^Write letters to your local govt. officials, Senators, Congressmen. Write an editoral to the local newspaper to discuss the safety of all involved. Not specifically to “drunk driving”, but just talk about what cyclists and drivers can do to make it safer for everyone.
Judging by where this happened, my hunch is that he is a 2nd or 3rd shift Ford truck plant worker who got off work and drank in the parking lot or something, then went home. Lock him up and throw away the key.
Of course this could be some guy with the same name etc…
Edit to add some more…
Apparently he’s got a band: http://www.myspace.com/dukeofyorkstreet
There’s also son interesting myspace entries for what appear to be his family, I’ll let you track them down if you’re interested.