Racine crash: Driver charged already accused in fatal hit-and-run

Racine crash, driver already charged in hit-and-run

A Racine woman is charged in a crash involving a city bus that injured 11 people. The same woman is accused in a fatal hit-and-run from last year.

RACINE, Wis. - A Racine woman who has never had a driver’s license is already accused of killing a pedestrian last year, but investigators say that didn’t stop her from getting behind the wheel.

The same woman, 20-year-old Shamya Anderson, is now charged with causing a crash involving a city bus on Wednesday that injured 11 people.

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Pedestrian killed

The backstory:

Tamara Carr said time has stood still since her brother, 44-year-old Dwayne Carr, was hit by a car and left for dead.

Dwayne Carr (photo provided by family)

"He’s all I ever had, especially on that side of the family. So just losing him, I don’t have anything now," she said. "Just trying to live each day but, I really want some justice for my brother."

It was not until late January that prosecutors charged Anderson with hit-and-run for Dwayne Carr’s death. In February, court records show she was released on bond and ordered not to drive or commit any new crimes.

Eleven people injured

What they're saying:

Racine County prosecutors said Anderson ignored those bond conditions on Wednesday when she got behind the wheel and caused a crash near 16th and Murray.

A criminal complaint said surveillance video showed Anderson's SUV driving "recklessly at a high rate of speed, swerving in traffic" when she lost control and spun across the centerline. Court filings said she sideswiped another SUV before spinning into the path of the bus.

The crash injured 11 people. Police said most of the passengers on the bus were high school students. Investigators said Anderson was also driving with three children in her SUV at the time.

Surveillance of crash near 16th and Murray, Racine

Wisconsin Department of Transportation records confirmed Anderson did not have a valid driver's license. 

"Am I to understand that the underlying case is charges in which there was a death involved?" Court Commissioner Sally Hoelzel said during Anderson’s initial appearance.

"I cannot state strongly enough how shocked I was to read these allegations against a woman who was out on bond for a driving case causing a death."

Shamya Anderson

In Court:

Anderson is charged with 29 counts:

• Knowingly operating without a valid license (causing great bodily harm)
• Second-degree reckless injury
• Child abuse (recklessly causing great harm)
• Five counts of child abuse (recklessly causing harm)
• Four counts of reckless driving (causing bodily harm)
• Two counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety
• Fifteen counts of felony bail jumping

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The court set her bond at $500,000 on Friday, limiting her chance to getting out on bond again. A judge ordered her $50,000 signature bond be forfeited in the first case.

"This cannot be stressed enough. This woman cannot drive a vehicle under any circumstances," said Hoelzel.

Anderson is due back in court for a preliminary hearing next week.