Charges filed in I-70 fatal crash involving CDOT plow driver and youth hockey team

CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Charges have been filed against a Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) plow driver following a crash on I-70 involving two passenger vehicles and a sprinter van carrying a hockey team from California. Law enforcement reports the crash killed one and injured several others.

Colorado State Patrol says Colton A. Wiedman, 29, has been charged with the following:

• Failure to drive in a designated lane
• Careless driving causing death
• Careless driving causing serious bodily injury - 4 counts
• Careless driving causing bodily injury - 3 counts

According to CSP, an investigation into the January 29 crash found that the CDOT plow truck was traveling westbound on I-70 when the driver lost control, traveling through the median and breaking the cable rail into the eastbound lanes. The plow then collided with a Toyota Tacoma that was traveling eastbound. The Toyota then went through the median and struck a BMW traveling westbound.

CDOT says the plow continued eastbound and struck the sprinter van that was traveling eastbound, which caused the van to go down an embankment and the plow to come to rest on the shoulder.

According to the CSP, of the eight people requiring medical attention, seven were transported by ground ambulance to a local hospital. An additional juvenile was flown by medical helicopter to an area trauma center with critical injuries. The remaining occupants of the sprinter van included one adult male passenger who refused medical transportation, as well as the driver who was declared dead at the scene.

None of the drivers or passengers of the other vehicles involved were transported to the hospital.