Another witness also traveling behind Fries’ truck gave a similar account, adding that she didn’t see any brake lights on the truck before the bicyclist was struck. She said the cyclist was easily visible because the wind kept blowing the poncho she was wearing.

She also told police she “knew it was going to happen ahead of time ... because of the way (Fries) was driving.”

Fries, a self-employed exterminator, told police that he had been at a company in Mazomanie that morning, drove home to pick up keys to a park shelter on Rocky Dell Road and then headed there. After stopping at the shelter for about 10 minutes, he said, he headed back toward Mazomanie.

Fries told police that he was driving no more than 50 mph. He said he was trying to grab a new blank invoice from the passenger seat of his truck, which diverted his attention from the road momentarily, and when he looked up, the bicyclist was right in front of him.

He said he didn’t see her before the crash. By the time he tried to swerve left, he said, his truck had already made contact with her.

Deputies who arrived at the scene found Arsnow on the shoulder of Highway 14, and her bicycle broken in half.