CHARGES FILED IN FATAL HIT AND RUN

A Cottage Grove woman long identified by authorities as the driver of
an SUV that hit and killed a bicyclist in February was charged
Wednesday with homicide by driving under the influence of marijuana.

An arrest warrant was issued for Susan K. Gorton, 45, who allegedly
hit and killed Dale Connors, 52, on Feb. 6 on Femrite Drive in the
town of Blooming Grove.

At the time of his death, friends described Connors as an intelligent
and self-sufficient man who built a tiny root-cellar-like home for
himself in the woods.

Gorton was charged in a criminal complaint with vehicular homicide by
use of a controlled substance and hit and run resulting in death.
Both charges are felonies that each carry a maximum sentence of 25
years of prison and extended supervision.

Though impaired-driving homicide cases involving marijuana are
relatively rare, District Attorney Brian Blanchard said police will
thoroughly investigate crashes involving deaths in which driver
impairment appears to have been a factor, regardless of whether it 's
alcohol or a controlled substance.

In this case, Blanchard said, charges took time to file because
police undertook what was a complex investigation before a lengthy
review was done by a prosecutor in his office.

According to a criminal complaint:

Cottage Grove police were sent to Gorton 's home after her husband,
Kevin Gorton, called to report that his wife 's Chevy Tahoe looked as
though it had hit something. Susan Gorton told police she had been at
the Water Tower Pub in Monona for about three hours and drank four
beers. She said she drove home on Dutch Mill Road, then Femrite Drive.

Gorton said that as she neared the Interstate 39-90 overpass, the
windshield on her SUV was suddenly smashed, but she said she did not
stop. Gorton told police she was feeling the effects of low blood
sugar from her diabetes and continued to drive home. Once there, she
said, she took care of her diabetes and took a bath. She told police
she had smoked marijuana about two to three weeks before the crash.

But an analysis of her blood by the state crime lab showed she had a
high level of marijuana and its metabolites in her body. The analysis
found no ethanol, which would have been present had she been
drinking. She also had a therapeutic level of an antidepressant in
her blood, the report states.

Connors was found lying in the road by another driver, who called
911. Pieces of his bicycle and pieces of a vehicle were found at the
scene. Connors died about two hours later at UW Hospital.