Felony charge dismissed for Boise man who fatally struck 7-year-old bicyclist
Senior Ada County Judge Karen Vehlow decided late Monday that prosecutors did not have enough evidence to charge an 18-year-old with felony vehicular manslaughter in the death of a 7-year-old and dismissed the case.
Conner Brant, of Boise, was initially charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter after he struck and killed a child riding a bicycle in Ada County. In November, Ada County prosecutors decided to charge Brant with a felony after learning that he was using his phone while driving.
Eduard Prokopchuk died in July after being struck by Brant’s pickup truck.
During the Monday preliminary hearing — a legal hearing used to determine whether there is enough evidence for a case to move to District Court — Brant’s attorney, Mark Manweiler, argued against the felony charge.
According to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, the crash happened when Eduard was riding his bike with two other children on the north side of Amity Road, east of the Cloverdale Road intersection, around 7:30 p.m. on July 18. Brant was driving west on Amity in a pickup truck when he struck the boy, authorities said.
Manweiler argued during the preliminary hearing that there was no evidence his client checked the SnapChat messages he received on his phone at the time of the accident.
Brant, who is 18, told police he did swerve across the fog line because he thought he saw something in the road, possibly an animal or debris.
Manweiler said prosecutors failed to prove that Brant had committed “gross negligence” in the accident because his client was not reckless and did not intentionally violate traffic laws. In his closing arguments Monday, Manweiler compared “gross negligence” to a person drag racing or intentionally attempting to run a red light.
The defense also noted that in the state of Idaho and in Ada County, it still is legal to operate a cellphone while driving. It also is legal in Idaho to temporarily cross a fog line in an effort to avoid an accident, Manweiler said, according to audio of the preliminary hearing.
Prosecutors argued that they had evidence Brant was using his phone around the time of the accident, something the state deemed a dangerous act. They also noted that Brant admitted to authorities that he saw the boys on bicycles earlier in the area, even if he didn’t see the boy at the time of the collision.
When the crash occurred, Brant said he wasn’t initially sure what he had hit.
Although the felony case was dismissed, prosecutors still could refile a misdemeanor charge.
“Prosecutors are currently carefully reviewing both the evidence in this case and Monday’s preliminary hearing ruling,” according to Emily Lowe, spokeswoman for the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office. “The office is weighing all options on how to proceed in the future with this case.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 11:45 AM.
