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SALT LAKE CITY — Life changed for Brandon Quist the day he hit and killed a bicyclist.
Quist is now doing what he can to right the wrong. The 27-year-old student was driving on University Parkway in Orem Oct. 3, 2015, when he caused the accident.
“I was just going down that road I had taken so many times before and I wasn’t feeling tired, which is one of the scary things,” Quist said.
But he was tired and said drowsiness caused him to run a red light and hit two bicyclists.
“I pulled to the side of the road, I got out and there were two bodies on the ground,” he said.
Kevin Bown was one of the bicyclists. He was critically injured. His wife Stacey was killed.
“She was caring, loving and a great person. That’s the hardest thing,” Bown said.
Bown and his family are doing their best to forgive Quist by not pursuing harsher punishments.
“I know that she would have been forgiving and I couldn’t see a need for (Quist) serving time. I couldn’t see a benefit for that,” Bown said.
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Police: Woman dies, husband in critical condition after car hits 2 bikes
One person died and another is in critical condition after a car hit two bicyclists Saturday, police said.Quist was sentenced to 80 hours of community service and an additional 20 hours working with the Road to Zero Fatalities program, hoping to educate others by sharing his experience.
“It happens to everyone,” Quist said. “It’s hard to know from the outside, let alone the inside, if you’re tired.”
He now tries to use his new role to stop others from making the same mistake.
“(I) try to live up to it and change the world so there isn’t another incident like this,” he said.
