New Zealand: US doctor must pay reparations for deadly crash
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Wisconsin heart surgeon who was vacationing in New Zealand when he caused a highway accident that killed two people and injured four others has been ordered to make reparation payments but has avoided jail time.
Kenneth Wolnak was ordered on Monday to pay a total of 165,000 New Zealand dollars ($116,000) to the victims or their families. Last month, the 63-year-old pleaded guilty to six charges of careless driving after attempting a U-turn on a coastal highway near the town of Nelson.
Several vehicles were involved in the ensuing accident.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}According to a police summary of facts, Wolnak and his wife, Elizabeth, arrived in New Zealand in mid-February. They rented an SUV and traveled extensively around the South Island before the Feb. 27 accident.