A 22-year-old ambulance driver will be charged in the deaths of two people and the injuring of two others, including a pregnant woman, after a crash on Interstate 76 in May, authorities said Thursday.
Christopher M. Larusso will be charged with two counts of careless driving causing the deaths of two women and two counts of careless driving causing serious bodily injury, said Eric Wynn, spokesman for the Colorado State Patrol.
The four charges are misdemeanors.
The crash May 9 near Sterling injured Kelsey Schlichenmayer of Burlington, who gave birth to a son that same day at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood.
Karen Woods, a 43-year-old paramedic from Elizabeth, and Schlichenmayer’s sister-in-law, Vicky Thomas, 36, of North Platte, Neb., died in the crash.
Larusso and a passenger, Dan Beza, 31, of Centennial, were treated for injuries and released.
Larusso had a history of traffic safety violations, including four citations 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: not wearing a seat belt, speeding 20 to 24 mph over the limit, and driving too fast for road conditions. The other citations were reduced to lesser violations.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
