SIREN, Wis. (AP) - A northwestern Wisconsin woman appeared in court Wednesday on felony charges in the death of a man who fell from the top of her moving pickup truck.
Tara Appleton, 31, is charged with first-degree reckless homicide and three other felonies in the death of 27-year-old Preston Decorah.
Prosecutors in Burnett County say Appleton, Decorah and a friend left a party at a home near Spooner last month with Appleton at the wheel of her pickup.
According to a criminal complaint, Appleton approached a stop sign, and “Preston must have crawled out the window as she was slowing, and he got on top of the truck,” she told investigators.
The Star Tribune reports Appleton drove off and saw Decorah slide down the front of the truck and fall to the ground. Appleton said he was unable to get to his feet, the complaint continued.
Appleton and others got Decorah back in the truck, and they returned to the party house where Decorah was left in the driveway and was found the morning of March 30. He later died at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Defense attorney Bruce Patrick Anderson argued Wednesday to reduce Appleton’s $5,000 cash bond to $2,500, but the court denied the request. Appleton is due back in court for a preliminary hearing April 28.
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