Driver told judge she didn’t recall the collision
By Jameson Cook
The Macomb Daily (Mount Clemens)
MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (AP) — An 18-year-old woman has turned the repercussions of a car-bike crash that could have killed her into an improved outlook on life, an elevated ambition to succeed.
Kara Duquet suffered terrible leg injuries and a broken jaw when she was hit head-on by a car last June as she pedaled her bicycle off Jefferson Avenue near Crocker Road in Harrison Township, minutes after completing her work shift busing tables at the nearby Terry’s Terrace restaurant. She spent 23 days in the hospital and two months in a wheelchair, and couldn’t eat for six weeks.
Months later, Kara appreciates life more than ever and shrugs off down moments. She sees good after seeing a lot of bad.
“This incident has totally changed my perspective,” Kara told The Macomb Daily. “I used to be pessimistic. I thought I had bad days before. Now I never have bad days. I have a more positive attitude in life.
“It sucks a little bit but you can’t be negative.”
“I’ve eliminated a lot of excess stress. I don’t worry about things anymore. It’s like, just don’t worry about it.”
Kara, who graduated from L’Anse Creuse Central High School in Harrison Township days before the incident, is attending Macomb Community College, and has started efforts to become an electronic music DJ and a life coach.
“I’m trying to take on as much as I can,” she said.
Kara’s attitude marvels her family, who note her lack of vengeance for the car driver, Margaret Fronczak, who received one year probation and had her driver’s license revoked for one year. Fronczak, 59, of Milford, previously pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a serious injury accident, punishable by up to five years in prison.
Fronczak kept driving as Kara laid in a ditch with her legs nearly severed and overcome with pain. Fronczak was arrested days later after someone noticed the damage on her Toyota Corolla matched a description in media reports.
Kara’s family members are upset about the punishment, arguing that Fronczak should have been incarcerated. Her sentencing deal with Judge James Biernat was up to a year in jail. Biernat was absent for the recent sentencing and was replaced by visiting Judge Antonio Viviano, who rejected a request by assistant Macomb prosecutor Michael Servitto to adjourn the sentencing for Biernat to perform it.
Revenge isn’t in a color in Kara’s personality palette.
“I think people put too much emphasis on getting back and getting even,” she said. “I try to live life to the fullest. That’s one reason why I don’t really have a need for revenge. I’m moving on with my life and she’s moving on with her life. My life’s going in a way better direction than hers. That’s enough for me.”
That doesn’t mean she believes Fronczak behaved well or shouldn’t have been punished more severely. She remains dismayed Fronczak never stopped to help her.
“If I hit something, I would stop, to check it out, check the scene out, and she obviously didn’t do that, and there’s something wrong with that. That’s not right,” she said. “All I can say is she got lucky. She got away with it.”
Fronczak only spoke once publicly, at the sentencing. Her attorney, Daniel Larin, has said Fronczak doesn’t recall the collision or six hours of that night, blaming it on a possible medical condition or mental issue. She has acknowledged drinking no more than three glasses of wine over several hours. She drove many miles across Southeast Michigan, buying gas in Mason. Her vehicle was
reported in a 911 call to be weaving in-between lanes on a Detroit-area freeway.
Kara saw only Fronczak once, at the sole court hearing Kara attended. Fronczak appeared contrite at the sentencing and said she realizes the suffering she has caused.
“I don’t know if she’s being sincere. I hope she is,” Kara said.
Kara was told Fronczak wants to write her a letter. Kara would read it; she would even meet with her.
“I’m kind of interested in what she has to say,” she said, adding she would mostly listen. “I’m not the one who should say anything,” she said. But if she could ask her anything, her questions would be, “What were you doing? Why would you just leave somebody?”
Her mom, Martha Grabowski, wanted jail for Fronczak, even if Fronczak won her plan to serve work-release in Wayne County, near her downtown-Detroit job.
“I think she should have gotten at least one year in jail and have to work with victims of hit-and-run accidents to see the problems they have to go through,” Grabowski said. “You wonder why we have repeat offenders; it’s when you have sentences like this. I think she should have had the original judge.”
Still, Grabowski is amazed by her daughter’s generous and positive spirit.
“That’s the kind of person she is,” Grabowski said. “God knows the effect if this happened to someone who is lesser.”
The crash broke Kara’s femurs and one fibula, forcing doctors to place a rod and screws in one leg and screws in the other leg. For her jaw, she must get braces and have another surgery, she said.
Kara, who attended months of physical therapy, can walk but can’t run. She insisted she is nearly fully recovered, but her mother disagreed and harbors concerns.
“I’m worried about the long-term effects,” she said. “I worry about the metal in her legs. I worry about her walking in the snow. She can’t do heavy-lifting. She still struggles with things. I don’t think she will ever be 100 percent.”
The incident burdened her family — including her stepfather and two brothers who reside in their modest brick ranch home near 15 Mile Road and Harper Avenue. Grabowski took a three-month leave from her job to care for Kara. Grabowski’s employer nearly fired her, and she is on probation.
Kara was an outstanding high school student, graduating summa cum laud. Before the accident, she planned to go away to college. Her injuries altered her plans and she is attending MCC this winter. She is studying sociology as a law school precursor.
