14th Circuit Solicitor's Office​

Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties​

Hilton Head woman sentenced in fatal hit and run case

A motorist who struck and killed a bicyclist in Bluffton in has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Shannon Marie Dapiran, 37, of Hilton Head Island, pleaded guilty Thursday, Sept. 21, to reckless homicide in the 2016 death of 60-year-old Kevin Thomson.

At about 7:30 a.m. Nov. 21, 2016, Thomson was riding his bicycle in the westbound lanes of U.S. 278 when he was struck by a motorist.

“The defendant struck this man with her vehicle and kept going, having no regard for what happened,” Assistant Solicitor Alex Joseph said. “A severely injured Mr. Thomson lay in a roadside ditch for an hour before a passerby stopped to help. As a result of his injuries, Mr. Thomson died.”

Evidence from the scene and forensic mapping lead investigators to Dapiran and a 2012 Dodge minivan with damage to the right front panel, a broken windshield, and a missing side passenger mirror.

Circuit Court Judge Carmen Mullen handed down the sentence.