MacKenzie Elmer

melmer@dmreg.com

A driver who was texting when she struck and killed a cyclist will have her license suspended and pay a fine.

Courtney Lynn Johnson, 24, was sentenced Friday for three traffic offenses. She told police that she was texting when she hit 21-year-old Grace Harken of Riceville from behind last July on Highway 218 near Osage.

The Mitchell County Attorney's Office said Johnson was fined $1,000 and her license was suspended for 180 days by Judge Nicholas Larson during Friday's sentencing hearing. That's the maximum sentence for the misdemeanor of texting while driving resulting in a death.

A bicycling advocate said the sentence "does not seem to match the crime."

"A reasonable person knows that texting while driving is dangerous, yet this driver still chose to text while driving," said Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. "We need stronger consequences for drivers that are knowingly reckless behind the wheel."

Johnson also was charged with operating too close to a bicycle and failure to maintain control. The failure to maintain control charge was dismissed and the judge ordered a fine for the other charge, Mitchell County Assistant Attorney Aaron Murphy said. The fine was $250, according to the Mitchell County Clerk's Office.

Johnson pleaded guilty to all three charges June 16.

Harken's parents told The Des Moines Register in an interview this spring that more serious charges were warranted.

When drivers kill cyclists — small fines, no jail

"There should already be laws in place that would take care of this," father Darrel Harken said, "and not just wave a hand at it like you ran over a bug.”

The Harkens could not immediately be reached after Friday's sentencing.

An investigation by The Des Moines Register this year showed that most drivers who kill cyclists in Iowa receive a small fine and no jail time. Twenty-five bicyclists have died in collisions with cars in Iowa since 2011.

Only one driver received prison time from the cases that have been adjudicated. Jonathan Leyva Rodriguez was sentenced in June to 34 years in prison after driving drunk and killing cyclist Gregary "Wade" Franck in November.