Monday, SEPTEMBER 15, 2025 |
The foreign commercial truck driver responsible for killing one Carbon County EMT and seriously injuring another nearly three years ago has been found guilty on all charges.
After a five-day trial, a Sweetwater County jury found 46-year-old Saviol Saint Jean guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated assault, and failure to move over for emergency vehicles. The charges stem from the 2022 crash that killed Memorial Hospital of Carbon County EMT Tyeler Harris and seriously injured EMT Tiffany Gruetzmacher.
At approximately 4:00 a.m., on December 21st, 2022, Harris and Gruetzmacher were responding to a crash on Interstate 80, east of Rawlins. While they worked to assist victims from the original crash, Saint Jean, driving a red Freightliner Cascadia, struck their ambulance, dragging Gruetzmacher under the cab of his truck and pinning Harris beneath the trailer’s landing gear.
Gruetzmacher sustained severe injuries, including a broken back, a skull fracture, and brain hemorrhaging.
She was transported to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center and released five days later, on December 26th, to a hero’s welcome in her hometown of Rawlins.
Tyeler Harris, aged 29, was pronounced dead at the scene. Governor Mark Gordon ordered flags flown at half-staff statewide in remembrance of his death. Harris was also honored with a memorial bench outside the North Platte Valley Medical Center in Saratoga. Memorial Hospital of Carbon County also established a scholarship in Harris’s name to help cover training costs for future EMTs.
Following the results of a lengthy investigation, Saint Jean was arrested on May 5th, 2024, and charged with aggravated homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault and battery, and operation of a vehicle upon approach of authorized emergency vehicles.
The trial began on Thursday, September 4th, in Sweetwater County District Court. After nearly a full day of deliberations, the jury found Saint Jean guilty on all charges. A sentencing date has not been set at this time, but the defendant is facing up to 30 years in prison.
