January 26, 2023 |
A reckless, intoxicated driver from Utah high on drugs faces 11 separate charges, including five of aggravated homicide with a vehicle, stemming from Sunday night’s multi-vehicle crash on I-80 that killed a group of friends from Arkansas who were headed home after spending a week at a bible college in Jackson Hole.
Carbon County Prosecutor Sarah Chavez Harkins filed the criminal charges in Circuit Court on Wednesday. The male defendant, 58-year-old Arthur Andrew Nelson of West Jordan, Utah, made his first appearance in court via a video conference.
The suspect faces more than 100 years in prison.
Pictured above: 58-year-old Arthur Andrew Nelson of West Jordan, Utah. Mugshot courtesy Carbon County Sheriff’s Office.
Nelson is charged five counts of aggravated homicide by vehicle, one for each of the five young people killed when Nelson, who was driving eastbound in the westbound lanes of Interstate 80, triggered a fiery crash at mile marker 219 at Sinclair around 7 p.m. Sunday.
Each aggravated homicide count for the deaths of the young people, mostly teenagers from Little Rock, carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $10,000.
According to the court documents, Nelson was driving under the influence of a controlled substance at the time of a crash that caused serious bodily injury. The criminal count carries a fine up to $10,000 and up to 10 years of imprisonment.
Nelson also faces lesser charges of reckless driving and two for reckless endangerment—one each for the Fed Ex truck and passenger car Nelson is accused of hitting while traveling in the wrong lanes of the interstate.
Nelson also faces a charge of driving with a suspended license.
According to court documents, Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Corey McCallister arrived at the crash scene where he observed a red Ford F-150 on fire and semi-truck beginning to catch fire in the eastbound lanes of the interstate.
Trooper McCallister said a badly damaged black Dodge pickup truck was on the westbound side of the highway. McCallister stated the Dodge appeared to have rolled over. The trooper also stated that he saw an Infiniti passenger car with three injured people inside of it.
In his statement, the Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper said, after seeing the occupants of the Infiniti – who Bigfoot 99 has learned are Rawlins residents – had not suffered life-threatening injuries, he approached the Dodge truck to attend to the driver. No one was in the vehicle. Another WHP trooper, Jay Scheel, said he had the driver of Dodge with him. The driver, identified later as Nelson, appeared to be under the influence of something. According to the trooper, Nelson said vehicles were driving the wrong way, head-on toward him. Evidence at the scene indicated to Trooper McCallister that Nelson was the one driving the wrong way.
McCallister said medical responders at the scene told him that driver of the semi-truck that had veered across the median to avoid the original crash was trapped inside the cab. The truck was on fire.
The trooper said the driver of the commercial rig, identified only as a 43-year-old Mississippi woman with the initials A.C., had suffered severe burns to her face and head. McCallister used his extinguisher to give fire fighters time to extricate the driver and transport her to the hospital.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper, in his court statement, said that A.C. suffered third degree burns to her face, neck, back, torso, and posterior. The truck driver was life flighted from Memorial Hospital of Carbon County to the burn center at Greeley, Colorado where she is in stable condition.
All five of the occupants of the red Ford F-150 suffered fatal injuries. Trooper McCallister said one occupant was ejected from the vehicle, while the other four remained inside the burning pickup. Firefighters attempted to put out the flames.
In his written statement, Trooper McCallister said he returned to Nelson and questioned him on why he was traveling the wrong way on the highway. Nelson appeared confused and could not maintain his balance. McCallister said Nelson had no visible injuries from the collision.
Following a series of failed field sobriety tests, Nelson was arrested for driving under the influence. He was transported to the Carbon County Jail. On Wednesday, January 25th, Nelson appeared, remotely, in court and was held on $500,000 cash-only bond. The suspect is considered a flight risk.
The three occupants of Infiniti, all locals, were treated for minor injuries and released.
The fatal crash victims from Arkansas in the F-150 are listed as Sylvan High School seniors Suzy Prime and Ava Luplow. Sylvan graduate, Salomon Correa, Magdalene “Maggie” Franco and Andrea Prime were also killed in the crash. Suzy, 18, and Andrea Prime, 23, were sisters.
The Sherwood community of Little Rock, Arkansas, has been hit hard by the loss and tragedy. Family and friends of the victims are leaning on their Christian faith and their congregations. According to the Little Rock Fox news affiliate KLRT, the two 18-year-old students, Ava Luplow and Suzy Prime both had the same bible verse posted on their social media pages on the day of the crash.
The scripture the two friends who died at the scene shared, Romans 8:18, reads: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
