VIROQUA, Wis. — A Viroqua motorist accused of hitting and injuring a bicyclist in Vernon County last July received a year’s probation after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge.

Vernon County Circuit Judge Michael Rosborough withheld sentence Monday and handed down probation to Alan Sagler, 52, for misdemeanor reckless driving causing bodily harm.
Sagler also must pay a $300 fine and perform 100 hours of community service.

Sagler was driving a pickup truck pulling a trailer July 7, 2007, on Hwy. K near Chaseburg, Wis., when he struck bicyclist John Raub, 35, according to the criminal complaint.

Raub was thrown from the bicycle and treated for a compression fracture to his back and a fractured ankle.

Raub and three other bicyclists said they were traveling between 40 and 45 mph on the steep and winding road and Sagler was driving at 50 to 55 mph, according to the complaint. The road has a posted 35 mph speed limit.

Sagler did not stop and later told Vernon County sheriff’s investigators he was unaware he’d struck Raub.

But one of the cyclists said Sagler was speeding and honking his horn before he passed the group and sideswiped Raub.

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