According to the Contra Costa Times, Kyle Katheryn Byrnes (aka Kyle Katherine Brown), 62, has been charged with DUI and failing to provide evidence of insurance on request following a Shoreline Highway collision that fractured 26 year old Claire Diepenbrock’s skull. Diepenbrock was riding her bike north toward Mount Tamalpais in the Tamalpais Valley area. The collision occurred at 5 p.m. on May 26. Diepenbrock, an avid cyclist suffered a fractured skull, a collapsed lung, a lacerated liver and other major injuries. She is still undergoing physical therapy for lingering injuries, including partial facial paralysis, said her father, Tony Diepenbrock.
Diepenbrock was sideswiped and knocked down by a northbound Saturn, the CHP said. A second vehicle swerved and avoided Diepenbrock but she was stuck by a Honda CR-V. Brown was identified as the driver of the Saturn and she was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of a drug, possibly a painkiller. Deputy District Attorney Kevin O’Hara confirmed that a drug was the intoxicant but declined to elaborate on the type of the drug or the amount in Brown’s system.
If convicted, Brown could face up to eight years in state prison. The criminal complaint also alleges that she made an unsafe passing move to the left when she struck Diepenbrock. Brown is scheduled to appear for arraignment on September 21 in Marin Superior Court.
The driver of the Honda CR-V, a Mill Valley resident, was not arrested.
