A 22-year-old ambulance driver will be charged in the deaths of two people and the injuries of two others including a pregnant woman following a crash on Interstate-70 in May, authorities announced today.
Christopher M. Larusso will be charged with two counts of careless driving causing the deaths of two women including a paramedic and two counts of careless driving causing serious bodily injury, said Eric Wynn, spokesman for the Colorado State Patrol.
The four misdemeanor charges, which could carry maximum penalties of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, will be filed in Washington County District Court, Wynn said today.
The crash on May 9 injured Kelsey Schlichenmayer of Burlington, who was upgraded from critical to serious condition after giving birth to a son at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood.
Karen Woods, a 43-year-old paramedic from Elizabeth, and Schlichenmayer’s sister-in-law, Vicki Thomas, were killed.
Larusso was cited four times in Adams County and Denver since 2003 for speeding, driving too close to another vehicle, not wearing a seat belt and other safety violations.
Larusso was found guilty on three of those violations: He was not wearing a seat belt in September, and in July he was speeding 20 to 24 mph over the limit and speeding too fast for road conditions. The other two citations were reduced to lesser violations.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
