A CDOT plow driver is charged with eight misdemeanors for a fatal crash on I-70 this January, when a plow smashed into a van carrying a girls youth hockey team from California.
The Fifth Judicial District today confirmed charges against the driver, Colton A. Wiedman, 29, of Littleton. Among them is one count of careless driving causing death.
The father of a player, Manuel Alejandro Lorenzana-Villegas, 38, was driving the van and killed on scene. Riding with him were players and other adults. Seven of them were injured, resulting in additional charges for careless driving.
Colorado State Patrol believes Wiedman was driving his plow uphill on I-70 near the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels when he lost control, bashing through the median and smashing into the van traveling downhill. The van was pushed off the interstate and down a steep embankment just east of Loveland Ski Area. It was snowing that morning, and the pavement was still coated in snow from a storm the night before.
Two other vehicles were involved. The interstate was closed for several hours.
Lorenzana-Villegas and the team, the Santa Clarita Lady Flyers, were traveling to an under-12 hockey tournament on the Front Range. Barely 24 hours after the crash, the team voted to play on – and won.
Said the coach, “It wasn’t just a bout a championship. They knew they were fighting for each other.”
Wiedman makes his first court appearance May 5 in Clear Creek County