A 61-year-old Caneyville, Ky. man is accused of causing the death of a 3-year-old girl in an October 2019 crash in the town of Kinnickinnic.

Michael Allan Duvik posted a $50,000 signature bond in St. Croix County Circuit Court on Thursday, June 24 on felony second degree reckless homicide, felony homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle and obstructing an officer (a misdemeanor) charges. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison and fines up to $100,000.

According to the complaint: A Wisconsin State Patrol trooper responded to a serious two-vehicle crash with injury at 1:21 p.m. Oct. 23, 2019, near mile post 13 on Interstate-94 in the town of Kinnickinnic. The crash occurred in an active construction zone where eastbound traffic was using temporary lanes for travel.

Two vehicles were blocking both eastbound traffic lanes: a Honda Odyssey van and a Dodge Durango. Both shoulders of I-94 were closed with concrete traffic barriers on either side to protect construction workers.

The Odyssey had five female occupants: the driver, who needed to be extricated; a child in a third-row car seat, who also needed to be extricated; a child in a second-row car seat, who had been removed through the left sliding door (which had broken out from the crash); a teen in the front seat, who exited the vehicle on her own; and a child in a second-row booster seat, who also got out on her own. All of them had injuries, ranging from minor to critical and were taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul by ground ambulance and helicopter.

The female driver of the Durango exited her vehicle unassisted. She had minor injuries and an ambulance took her to Western Wisconsin Health in Baldwin.

A semi-truck driver who had been following both vehicles said he had a dash camera and offered police his video footage as evidence. After reviewing the video, police determined a third vehicle’s actions caused the crash. The Odyssey was traveling in the left lane, with the Durango behind it. An MIT Illinois Inc. tractor-trailer was in the right lane next to the Odyssey. It began to change lanes while the Odyssey was still beside it, causing the Odyssey to move left in an attempt to avoid a crash with the semi. As the semi completed its move to the left lane, the Odyssey struck the left median crash cushion barrier, rotated back into its lane, where the Durango struck the Odyssey’s driver’s side. The semi completed the lane change and continued eastbound without stopping.

Police later located the MIT Illinois Inc. semi around 4:15 p.m. heading eastbound on I94 near Warrens, Wis. A state trooper pulled the semi over at mile post 146. The driver, identified as Duvik, said he was traveling 50 mph through the construction zone in the right lane and denied changing lanes or running any vehicles off the road. Duvik’s semi matched the semi in every way seen in the witness’s dash camera video. Duvik also admitted to being on that stretch of road where the crash occurred at the approximate time it occurred.

On Oct. 25, 2019, law enforcement learned from the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office that a 3-yearold girl (who had been in the Odyssey) had died at Regions Hospital as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.

The Odyssey’s driver told police in an interview that the semi forced her to go left in an effort to avoid a crash. She realized there was no room to move left and struck the barrier. The older child who had been riding in the Odyssey’s front seat said her mother started honking the horn as the semi was coming into their lane. In her statement she wrote: “As the driver passed our vehicle I looked up at the driver and he gave me the middle finger and mouthed ‘f& *% you’ to me and began to move towards us as he passed.”

A pre-trial conference is set for 11:45 a.m. July 16 in St. Croix County Circuit Court.