No charges to be filed in motorcycle fatality
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Douglas County Dist. Atty. Charles Branson said his office would not file charges in the case of a Lawrence man killed in a motorcycle wreck in November.
Merle Zuel, stepfather of the victim, 23-year-old Matt Thompson, said he was upset with the decision.
"While I am sympathetic to the young lady who caused the accident, I can't help but feel she cheated the system or the system failed," he said.
Thompson was killed Nov. 20 when a pickup truck hit his motorcycle on Sixth Street.
Branson said both his office and the Jefferson County attorney's office reviewed the case before deciding not to file charges against the driver of the pickup, Heather Nguyen, 22, Lawrence.
Kansas courts have decided something as simple as running a stop sign is not gross negligence, Branson said. He said Nguyen did stop, but she just failed to see the motorcycle.