Christin M Harding Obituary, Death; – A 61-year-old woman passed away on Tuesday evening after being struck by an unlicensed driver in central Wisconsin, according to authorities.
The Sauk County Sheriff’s Office reported that deputies were dispatched shortly before 5:15 p.m. on October 8 to respond to a hit-and-run incident involving an SUV and a bicyclist on Levee Road near North Hein Road in Fairfield Township.
Initial reports suggest that the bicyclist, identified as Christin M. Harding, 61, from Baraboo, was thrown into a ditch upon impact. The SUV fled east on Levee Road towards the Columbia County line. A second bicyclist contacted emergency services and initiated CPR.
Deputies located the crash site on the south side of Levee Road, where paramedics attempted to perform life-saving measures; however, Harding was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities identified the suspect vehicle as a maroon 2003 Honda Pilot based on witness accounts and departmental resources. With the assistance of the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, the vehicle and its driver, Taurean M. Johnson-Puttnam, 31, were located around 6:45 p.m. on Tritz Road in Columbia County.
Johnson-Puttnam was arrested and subsequently booked into the Sauk County Jail on multiple charges, including hit and run resulting in death, homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle, operating without a valid license, causing death, operating without insurance, and failing to notify police of an accident. At the time of publication, Johnson-Puttnam had not yet been formally charged in the Wisconsin Circuit Court system. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.
