MANKATO, Minn. — An 18-year-old Mankato woman is charged with criminal vehicular homicide after prosecutors say she fatally struck a pedestrian while street racing Monday night.
The case against Kaylee Richmond is outlined in a criminal complaint filed in Blue Earth County District Court. It says she was racing the driver of another vehicle when Richmond allegedly struck and killed someone who was in the roadway near the intersection of Madison Avenue and Hope Street.
Mankato police were dispatched to the scene about 9:30 p.m. and saw a white Nissan Altima in the eastbound lanes with a shattered windshield and disfigured hood. Officers reported a large streak of blood across the top of the vehicle, and a body was spotted nearby. Medical personnel were on the scene, but officials said that the victim was already dead.
Police say Richmond was found sobbing and hyperventilating on the south side of the roadway. She was identified as the driver of the white Nissan and reportedly told an officer she was racing another driver when she struck the victim.
"The other car should be in trouble too.... he was trying to race me," the officer quoted the defendant as saying. "I like going fast and he was trying to race me."
Richmond allegedly told the officer she looked over at the other car she was racing and when she looked back there was a “guy in front of me.”
Witnesses seated at a nearby patio described hearing a loud sound, looking over and seeing the white Nissan stopped and a dark-colored vehicle that "tore off." One told police he observed the vehicles changing position and rapidly switching lanes. That person, a paramedic, ran to the victim and noted that person was "obviously deceased."
A Minnesota State Trooper trained in accident reconstruction estimates that Richmond was doing 70 to 75 mph at the time based on damage to the Nissan and the victim's injuries. Posted speed on the road is 35 mph.
If convicted, Richmond faces a possible maximum recommended sentence of 10 years in prison.
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