Judge reviewing bond for driver charged in fatal Elyria crash in January

ELYRIA — A judge will decide whether to reduce the bond for a Lorain man sitting in jail awaiting trial on charges related to a fatal hit-skip crash in January. Kenneth D. Freeman, 55, of North Urban Circle, is charged with one count each of failure to stop after an accident, a felony, vehicular homicide and vehicular manslaughter, both misdemeanors, in a secret indictment handed up April 23 in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. Elyria police said Tiffany Kunc, 34, died after Freeman's maroon Ford Escape hit her while she was walking in the 6700 block of West River Road South. Freeman pleaded not guilty April 23. That day, his bond was set at $250,000 bond by Judge Giovanna Bremke. He has been in jail since. Defense attorney Mike Stepanik called that amount of bond "excessive," said his client couldn't afford it and during a hearing Wednesday asked Bremke to reduce it. The crash occurred at about 7:30 p.m. Jan. 17. A resident found Kunc unresponsive in the snow, and first responders pronounced her dead at the scene. Elyria police recovered surveillance video that showed Kunc being hit by a car. They tracked down Freeman and his vehicle in Lorain and impounded the SUV as evidence. Police said Freeman admitted driving in the area at the time of the crash and told them he thought he hit a deer. Kunc was walking in the middle of the street under the influence of at least three different kinds of drugs, Stepanik said in court Wednesday. Stepanik said his client cooperated with Elyria police, didn't try to hide his car from them and voluntarily gave up his phone for police to search it. One element of the felony charge against Freeman is that he had to know a crash occurred to be guilty of it. "I think that's going to be a big issue" given the weather and driving conditions at the time, Stepanik said in court. "I think this case is still in its infancy ... I think a quarter-of-a-million-dollar bond for a felony of the third degree is excessive, respectfully." Freeman is not believed to have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs the night of the crash, though Stepanik said in court that his client had some of those issues "in the past." Bremke asked what Freeman's past criminal history was. Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Mark Koza rattled off a list of Freeman's past convictions for robbery, attempted felonious assault, receiving stolen property, theft, trafficking in marijuana, drug possession and multiple instances of failure to appear in court. It's not illegal to walk while under the influence like Kunc was that night, Koza said, pointing to Freeman's history of driving on a suspended license and traffic offenses — nearly one per year since 2000, he said. "This case involves him driving and striking a woman legally walking down the road while he wasn't paying attention," Koza said. Tiffany Kunc's father Charles Kunc said his daughter was walking on the right side of the road when she was hit. He said he has watched the video police found of the crash and "watched her die." Charles Kunc said Freeman bragged on social media after the crash that nothing would happen to him if he was charged, and allegedly made other offensive statements under an "offensive" name on Facebook. Bremke said she would take the arguments under advisement and rule at a later date. The next pretrial hearing in the case is scheduled on June 3. Freeman has not waived his right to a speedy trial, so a trial date is tentatively set for July 13. "I want to make sure (Freeman's) constitutional rights are met," Bremke said. Tiffany Kunc was the mother of four children. An online GoFundMe campaign to benefit her chidren remains open, and had raised $4,581 as of Wednesday. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or [email protected].