July 9, 2026 |
Photo – Courtesy of Sweetwater County Detention Center
The commercial truck driver accused of killing a Memorial Hospital EMT and severely injuring another is asking the state’s supreme court to overturn his conviction.
Around four in the morning on December 21st, 2022, Haitian‑born commercial truck driver Saviol Saint Jean was traveling on Interstate 80 when he crashed into the back of a Memorial Hospital of Carbon County ambulance. EMTs Tyeler Harris and Tiffany Gruetzmacher were responding to an earlier crash when the incident occurred. Harris was pronounced dead at the scene, and Gruetzmacher was critically injured.
Earlier this year, Saint Jean was sentenced in Sweetwater County District Court to up to 14 years in prison for aggravated assault and vehicular homicide.
On July 1st, attorneys for Saint Jean filed a brief of appellant with the Wyoming Supreme Court to overturning his conviction. In the document, attorneys argued that there was not sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Saint Jean acted recklessly on that December morning.
Court documents state that a semi‑truck collided with a Ford F‑150 hauling a trailer before Saint Jean arrived on the scene. Although the drivers came to a stop and turned their hazard lights on, they allegedly failed to set out cones, flares, or emergency triangles.
Saint Jean’s attorneys wrote that Interstate 80 remained open to traffic despite the fact that both lanes were blocked and traffic was using the right shoulder to pass the collision scene before Harris and Gruetzmacher’s ambulance arrived.
Attorneys wrote that evidence showed Saint Jean slowed as he approached the disabled vehicles and “made maneuvers to avoid the collision.” However, because he misjudged the ambulance’s location, his efforts were unsuccessful and he struck the vehicle, killing Harris and seriously injuring Gruetzmacher. Attorneys added that English is not Saint Jean’s first language, that he had only been driving semi‑trucks for a few months, and that he had traveled that stretch of I80 just three times in his life.
In September 2025, Saint Jean was convicted of Aggravated Homicide by Vehicle, Aggravated Assault and Battery, and Operation of Vehicles Upon Approach of Authorized Emergency Vehicles by a Sweetwater County jury.
The driver’s attorneys argued that the evidence presented during the trial was not sufficient for the jury to conclude that Harris’s death resulted from Saint Jean acting recklessly. They wrote that the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk. They also argued that jurors overlooked the steps Saint Jean took to avoid the crash, including slowing down when he saw the ambulance lights. Instead, Saint Jean is said to have misjudged the ambulance’s location because of a glare on his window and was unable to stop in time.
Based on those facts, Saint Jean’s attorneys argued that the State failed to meet their burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt and that the jury should not have found him guilty of Aggravated Homicide by Vehicle or Aggravated Assault and Battery.
The Wyoming Supreme Court has not yet taken action on Saint Jean’s appeal. In most cases, the justices issue a ruling within six months to a year.
