MONROE — By all accounts, it was just a cold January afternoon just before 16-year-old Hudson Zarling made a fatal turn into oncoming traffic that ripped away another driver’s life and injured passengers.
According to investigators’ version of the events last January 17 — citing witnesses on site — the slightly injured Monroe driver was out of his car quickly after the crash, and witnesses were desperately trying to help at the chaotic scene, W7800 block of Wis. Hwy 81, in the Town of Jordan
“Hudson immediately retrieved his cellphone and began making phone calls,” said the criminal complaint against the teen. “(Witness 2) told Hudson to sit by the stop sign until law enforcement arrived.”
Treated for minor injuries, the teen, now 17, was eventually allowed to go home, but police later told his father to expect citations in the mail for failure to yield, inattentive driving, and failure to yield while making a left turn (resulting in death).
Hudson’s father, a firefighter, was among those on scene, according to the criminal complaint against his son. But Hudson stood before a Green County judge last Thursday, August 7, to face a far more serious charge — homicide by reckless operation of a vehicle, a Class G felony.
A surveillance video from a nearby building allegedly shows the crash. Prosecutors maintain that Zarling, who was turning his 2012 Toyota Highlander into the cheese factory in which he worked, somehow became distracted, possibly by his phone, and was T-Boned by an oncoming Nissan Sentra, in which the front-seat passenger — the driver’s niece — later died.
“Two subjects can be seen exiting a white pickup truck in the parking lot and running towards the crash,” said the criminal complaint against the defendant. “Three subjects can be seen running towards the crash from a construction site on the north side of the roadway.”
Zarling appeared at the August hearing in a white shirt and tie, looking every bit his young age, and with his attorney, Madison-based Jonas Bednarek, waived his right to a preliminary hearing before Circuit Judge Faun M. Phillipson.
But the criminal complaint provides insight into the prosecution’s case:
“Hudson reported that he then started slowing down to make a left turn onto Klondike Cheese Factory Rd., which is where he worked,” said a deputy, quoted in the criminal complaint. “Hudson reported that he went to ‘move his phone a little’ and believed that the other vehicle was further away than it was. Hudson reported looking down at his phone…”
The victim, according to court documents, was living in a group home in Mineral Point. Her age was not given but the complaint said “had the mental capacity of a 7 to 10-year-old child.”
Zarling, who has pleaded not guilty, was given a $5,000 signature bond. His next appearance is scheduled as a plea/sentencing hearing for 2 p.m. October 15 in Phillipson’s court.
