Man who drove away after running over teenager will spend six days in jail - East Idaho News
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Man who drove away after running over teenager will spend six days in jail

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IDAHO FALLS — The man who altered his pickup truck after hitting a teenager riding a bike will spend six days in jail after signing an Alford plea agreement.

Magistrate Judge Mark L. Riddoch ordered 24-year-old Kacey Mark Spencer to spend two years on supervised probation after serving the jail time. Riddoch suspended 114 days of the 120-day sentence.

Spencer plead guilty to misdemeanor failing to give immediate notice of an accident and failure to provide proof of vehicle insurance, an infraction. He also plead guilty to misdemeanor driving under the influence as part of a separate incident.

Initially Spencer was charged with leaving the scene of an injury accident, a felony, but those charges were amended to the misdemeanor failing to give immediate notice of an accident. Bonneville County Deputy Prosecutor Tanner Crowther tells EastIdahoNews.com criminal charges wouldn’t have even been warranted if Spencer had just called to report the crash. Crowther says prosecutors spoke with the victim and his family before moving forward with the plea agreement.

Spencer hit then-15-year-old Keeton Doggett with a truck on 1st Street and Hitt Road in August 2017. Doggett was left with serious injuries requiring numerous surgeries and weeks of hospitalization.

Moments before being run over, Doggert had finished his shift at the Arctic Circle on 1st Street and was riding his bicycle home. Documents say Doggett recalls pushing the crosswalk button, waiting to enter the intersection until the electronic sign indicated it was his turn to cross.

According to documents, Doggett told investigators he had almost made it through the intersection when he was hit. He said “he went into a ball” when he was first hit and then he was hit again. After being hit a second time he “went flat,” without the white truck stopping.

Doggett’s mother said doctors told said the injuries her son sustained could only be the result of being run over or hit by a vehicle traveling at least 60 miles per hour.

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The truck investigators believe Kacey Mark Spencer was driving when he ran over 15-year-old Keeton Doggett | Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office

The Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office asked for the public’s help in finding who ran over the teen. Information gathered ultimately lead investigators to Spencer.

According to court documents, a co-worker said Spencer told him, “If I did do it, I was so drunk I don’t remember.”

The co-worker told investigators Spencer cleaned out the bed and added a camper shell. He’d also added a new piece of black vinyl on the driver’s side of the truck and removed the “FORD” emblems along with adding stickers to the back window, according to court documents.

Investigators impounded Spencer’s truck and found what appeared to be transfer marks from a green-colored material on the undercarriage in various places, which they believed to be from Doggett’s bike. They also uncovered what appeared to be hair in an air dam at the front of the truck, but whether it was actually hair was not confirmed, according to court documents.

Spencer was arrested in December 2018 for a DUI in a separate incident. Additionally in connection to the DUI, Spencer was charged with misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. With the plea agreement, those drug and paraphernalia charges were dismissed.

Spencer is also required to pay $657.50 in fees and fines. In his plea he also agreed to pay restitution for the crash.

When signing an Alford plea a defendant going to trial admits there is enough evidence for a jury to convict them. The Alford plea allows a defendant to plead guilty with the knowledge of the evidence without admitting to have committed the criminal act.

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