JOHN BURNETT/Tribune-Herald
Alison Taylor appears Monday with attorney Christopher Bridges in Hilo Circuit Court.
By JOHN BURNETT
Tribune-Herald staff writer
A 40-year-old Volcano woman pleaded not guilty Monday to charges stemming from a hit-and-run collision that killed a 20-year-old bicyclist last month in Hilo.
Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura ordered Alison Elizabeth Taylor to stand trial on Sept. 10 at 9 a.m.
Taylor is charged with manslaughter, first-degree negligent homicide, leaving the scene of an accident involving death, driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving and driving with a suspended license. According to police, on April 11 at about 7:30 a.m., Taylor was driving a 2005 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck south on Kinoole Street between Ohea and Puainako streets when she struck Brody Winslow, a Hawaii Community College psychology student, who was riding a bicycle in the same direction.
Police say Taylor then clipped a utility pole, severing it, and fled south on Kinoole before being stopped at the intersection of West Palai Street by Assistant Chief Marshall Kanehailua, police said.
Winslow, originally from Wrightsville Beach, N.C., was pronounced dead less than an hour later at Hilo Medical Center.
Taylor was indicted by a Hilo grand jury on May 9. In the indictment, prosecutors allege that Taylor was under the influence of alcohol and drugs including clonazepam, morphine and tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, at the time of the crash.
Manslaughter is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment, while negligent homicide carries a possible 10-year prison term. Taylor cannot be convicted on both charges.
A bench warrant for Taylor’s arrest was issued with the indictment and she turned herself in to police on Friday afternoon. She was released after posting $25,000 bail. Conditions of her release include no drugs or alcohol.
Taylor, an employee at Thai Thai Restaurant in Volcano, is a former pharmacy technician at Windward Pharmacy in the Puainako Town Center in Hilo who was awarded a certificate of merit from Hawaii police for helping stop an armed robbery there in 2010. The pharmacy has since closed.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
