The California truck driver in the Monday crash on Interstate 70 that killed two people has been arrested after being charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Walter J. Montejo, 26, was charged with two counts of first-degree involuntary manslaughter, one count of second-degree assault, and driving with a suspended license.
Montejo was booked at the Boone County Jail at 7:15pm on Wednesday night.
Montejo was driving a semitruck that struck a U-Haul near the Business Loop 70 exit on I-70 Monday afternoon. Cindy Helms, 54 of Tennessee, and Melvina Colin, 84 of Colorado, were in the U-Haul and died from their injuries in the crash.
Drivers behind Montejo before the crash said he was driving in the left lane in the Freightliner truck with a trailer when failed to stay in the lane and hit a car in the driving lane, court documents state. The car spun out of control off the right side of the road, according to court documents.
After hitting the car in the right lane, Montejo's truck overcorrected into the concrete barrier in the middle of the road and went over it into the oncoming lanes, hitting an SUV that spun out of control, a RAM pickup truck that went airborne and overturned, and a Ford pickup truck, according to court documents. Montejo's truck then hit the U-Haul head-on, according to court documents. The driver of the RAM was seriously injured, police say.
Witnesses told Columbia police that the Montejo was traveling at a high speed in the passing lane at the time of the crash, court documents state.
Police say Montejo's license was suspended under Missouri's Administrative Alcohol law.
Montejo was moderately injured in the crash and was in good condition in the hospital Wednesday afternoon, an MU Health Care spokesperson told KOMU 8.
