Pittsburgh man gets 11 to 22 years in heroin-induced hit-and-run that killed cyclist in Bell Acres

Everything about Kate Brown’s life has changed since her husband Curt was killed cycling in Bell Acres two years ago after being struck by a motorist who was high on heroin.

She said she lost her best friend and husband of nearly 22 years.

She now has four separate mental health diagnoses, including major depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

She no longer will retire next year to Tucson, where she and her husband planned to cycle, run and enjoy warm weather year-round.

But the worst of it, Kate Brown said Thursday in an Allegheny County courtroom, is who she has become.

“I now know what it feels like to hate someone,” she said, her voice breaking. “I hate Justin Miller, and it feels awful.

“It is damaging and mind-consuming, but I hate him for killing Curt.”

Curtis Brown, 51, of Ben Avon, was killed when he was struck by Miller on May 23, 2020, on Big Sewickley Creek Road. Miller, who hadn’t had a driver’s license since 2006, was high, police said.

Miller, 36, of Pittsburgh’s Marshall-Shadeland, was ordered Thursday by Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski to serve 11 to 22 years in state prison.

Miller pleaded guilty in May to homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, fleeing and eluding police, causing an accident involving death while not licensed, reckless endangerment and drug possession.

Investigators said police received reports just after noon on May 23, 2020, that a motorist was swerving on Nicholson Road at Wexford-Bayne Road.

When police tried to pull over Miller, who was driving a pickup with heavy front-end damage, he refused to stop and almost hit two officers.

He was eventually arrested in the area of Boyle Road just before 12:30 p.m. At the same time, police in Bell Acres were called for a hit-and-run crash involving a cyclist.

Curt Brown was flown to UPMC Presbyterian, where he died a short time later.

Miller told police he had used heroin that day and had “bumped” into a person on a bike.

Kate Brown told the court on Thursday that her husband wasn’t just bumped.

She recounted getting a call from police that day, and then a police car arriving to take her to the crash site.

Every day, Kate told the judge, she recalls the details — how hot it was in the back of the car, how she was hysterical at the scene.

She recalls seeing her husband’s cycling shoe, which would have been clipped into his bike, in a parking lot across the street.

She recalls seeing his mangled bike, and police showing her a picture of the clothes her husband had been wearing — and her coming to the realization that they had been cut from his body.

“I couldn’t even process what I was seeing,” Kate said. “I kept begging the detective to have someone take me to the hospital.

“I can still feel the chaos.”

Finally, when she arrived at the hospital, her friend identified her husband’s body.

“That is how I said goodbye to Curt, sitting next to his dead body under a sheet,” she said.

Kate told the judge that she is no longer passionate about life.

“I am sad. I am empty, and I am damaged,” Kate said. “I am still suffering, and my heart has not healed.”

“I don’t feel joy and happiness like I used to.”

Kate Brown said her husband made her laugh out loud every day.

She told the court that her husband was an avid cyclist, runner and fan of performance sports. He founded Curt Brown Racing and developed a following around the world.

Although his funeral was limited to 25 people because of the covid-19 pandemic, Kate said that 140 cyclists arrived and rode through the parking lot in Curt Brown’s honor.

“I don’t consider Curt’s death to be an accident,” she said. “It makes me sick no one in his life took the keys or the truck. Justin Miller alone is the reason that I suffer every day.”

When it was his turn to speak, Miller told Kate that he was sorry.

“With immense sincerity, I apologize to you from the bottom of my heart,” he said. “I never wanted to be the person to ruin someone’s lives, and now I have destroyed yours.”

Miller said he hopes that the pain lessens for Brown’s family and friends each day.

“I wish that that had never happened,” he said.

Defense attorney Patrick Thomassey, when speaking on his client’s behalf, turned in the courtroom and spoke directly to Curt Brown’s loved ones in the gallery, sharing his own personal tragedy.

Thomassey said Thursday was the 52nd anniversary of a crash in which he was involved in Denver. He and his fiance and two friends were in a car that day being chased by a drunk driver. The crash killed everyone in the car but him, Thomassey said.

The drunk driver got a speeding ticket.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it — 52 years later,” Thomassey said. “There’s no excuse for what happened here.”

“The only way to get through this is to love each other,” he said.

Judge Borkowski also heard from Curt Brown’s friends on Thursday.

David Jackson said in a victim impact statement that he was supposed to ride with Curt Brown the day of the crash but had to stay home with his children.

They rescheduled their ride for the next day, and Brown went out on his own.

“It was clearly divine intervention I wasn’t killed in the same crash that day,” Jackson said.

He told Borkowski that he thinks about that often, and that his friend’s death has led to a loss of freedom for him to ride where he wants, and anxiety for his wife whenever he does go out.

“I believe in second chances,” Jackson said, “but this man already had one.”

Joe Vallese, who was Curt Brown’s best friend, said in a written statement that when he does ride now, it is with hesitation and fear.

“The experience is not the same,” he said. “It is very lonely when I go out biking, and Curt is on my mind the entire time.

“In spirit, he is there, and that’s all I have now.”