• 08
  • January
    2011

Police arrested a 33-year-old semi-truck driver from St. Louis after he crashed into another vehicle while traveling the wrong way on Interstate 70. ABC 7 News reports that the crash, near Limon, killed the driver of the other vehicle and injured three others. The semi-truck driver is charged with numerous offenses, including vehicular homicide, drunk driving, vehicular assault, driving on the wrong side of a divided highway and driving without headlights.

A Colorado State Trooper explained that the semi travelled at least nine miles in the wrong direction on the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70. A Limon police officer attempted to stop the semi by pulling in front of it with his siren on, and also tried shining the driver with a spotlight. Unfortunately, the police officer was not able to stop the semi, and it continued driving until it collided head-on with a sedan.

ABC 7 News reports that the semi driver worked for an Arkansas trucking company that received recent warnings regarding driver fitness and alcohol and controlled substance violations. Accordingly, federal regulatory authorities had identified this carrier as a priority for an intervention action and roadside inspection.

While a vehicular homicide charge is an unsurprising result of a semi-truck traveling more than nine miles on the wrong side of a highway with its headlights off, most crashes that lead to charges of vehicular homicide are not as easy to predict. More often drivers are going about their everyday business of commuting to work or running a few quick errands. Accidents resulting in serious injury or death happen all too often and can result in serious criminal charges.

Source: ABC 7 News Wrong-Way Semi Causes I-70 Head-On; 1 Killed, 3 Injured Alan Gathright, 27, Dec. 2010