close

Greene County woman pleads guilty to ‘car surfing’ incident that killed passenger

2 min read
article image -

A former Graysville woman who was driving drunk when her passenger died while he was “car surfing” on the roof of her moving vehicle in 2019 pleaded guilty Wednesday to lesser charges, but will still serve some jail time.

Kersten Zoe Kisner, 22, pleaded guilty in Greene County Court before President Judge Lou Dayich to charges of involuntary manslaughter, driving under the influence and reckless endangerment in connection with the death of Ryan Lohr.

State police said Kisner was drunk when she was driving on Route 21 in Franklin Township in the early hours of Oct. 16, 2019, when Lohr climbed onto the roof of her car and stood on it as the vehicle sped along the highway. Kisner apparently swerved when she saw another vehicle heading in the opposite direction, which threw Lohr to the roadway, where he was struck by oncoming traffic. Lohr, 21, of Wind Ridge died at the scene.

Kisner, who was 18 at the time of the incident, had a blood-alcohol level of .108%, according to court documents, which was well above the .02% threshold for motorists under the drinking age of 21.

State police charged Kisner in March 2021 with felony charges of homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter and homicide by vehicle while DUI, along with several misdemeanors. She was set to go to trial last week, before she agreed to the plea bargain for the three misdemeanor charges, including the lesser count of involuntary manslaughter.

As part of the plea deal, Dayich sentenced Kisner to serve 30 days in jail followed by 11 months on electronic home monitoring. She will serve the next 15 weekends in the Greene County jail as part of those 30 days, according to the agreement. After her home confinement is completed, Kisner will be on probation for four years.

Her defense attorney, Chris Blackwell, said Kisner wanted to accept responsibility for her role in Lohr’s death while also avoiding a trial in which she could face a longer prison term if convicted on the most serious charges.

“It was a very tragic case because a young man lost his life,” Blackwell said. “The responsibility for that loss of life is probably shared. She chose to plea to accept some responsibility for that.”

Kisner has been free on $50,000 unsecured bond since her arrest nearly three years ago. Court documents list her current residence as being in Aleppo.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today