Texas man pleads guilty in Utah crash that left 3 dead

Texas man pleads guilty in Utah crash that left 3 dead

(Utah Highway Patrol)


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MONTICELLO, San Juan County — A Texas man has admitted that he was criminally negligent when he drove his car across a double yellow line into oncoming traffic, touching off a four-car pileup that left three people dead.

David Lewis had been charged in 7th District Court with three counts of manslaughter, a second-degree felony. Court records show that he pleaded guilty Thursday to three counts of negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor.

Lewis, 29, of Saginaw, Texas, was driving a Nissan Maxima on Aug. 16, 2013, when he tried to pass a tractor-trailer truck in a no-passing zone on U.S. 191 south of Moab, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.

The Nissan slammed into a Hyundai in the oncoming lane, then spun down the road, where it was hit by a Cadillac. The Cadillac went off the shoulder of the road and stopped. A Toyota traveling behind the Hyundai avoided the crash, but was struck by debris.

Lewis' girlfriend, 27-year-old Stephanie Vidales, and her father, 54-year-old Juan Vidales, were killed in the crash. A passenger in the Cadillac, Arthur Loewen, 69, of Perry, Georgia, was killed as well. Four other people, including Stephanie Vidales' 10-year-old daughter, were injured.

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On Thursday, San Juan County Attorney Craig Halls told Judge Lyle Anderson his office had been unable to contact Loewen's family about the plea agreement, court records show. The family of Juan and Stephanie Vidales did not want the prosecution to continue to pursue felony charges against Lewis, Halls told the judge.

After accepting Lewis' guilty pleas, Anderson imposed the sentence agreed to by the prosecution and the defense. He ordered Lewis to serve one year in jail on each charge, then suspended those sentences and put Lewis in jail for 60 days. Lewis will also serve 24 months on probation to the court and pay a fine of $2,050.

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Geoff Liesik

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