GREEN RIVER — If you ask the prosecutor who tried a Haitian trucker this week for killing an EMT with his truck nearly three years ago on Interstate 80, he was trying to “thread the needle” through a crash scene where everyone was going too slowly for him.
But if you ask 46-year-old Saviol Saint Jean’s defense attorney, the former Haitian police officer and newly-trained commercial truck driver was, rather, navigating a chaotic scene for which Wyoming authorities should have closed the road but didn’t.
The jury heard these arguments during the closing statements, which ended about 4:20 p.m. Wednesday. Then Sweetwater County District Court Judge Richard Lavery sent the jurors home for the night and told them to return at 8:30 a.m. Thursday for deliberations.
The question is not whether Saint Jean drove a Vamar semitrailer through a heap of debris, into two EMTs, and into an ambulance on Interstate 80 near Rawlins the morning of Dec. 21, 2022.
The question for the jury, rather, is whether Saint Jean acted with criminal recklessness.
He faces one count of aggravated vehicular homicide and another of aggravated assault, both felonies hinging on alleged recklessness in this case.
The first carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and the second of 10 years in prison. He also faces a third count alleging he did not move over for an emergency vehicle, punishable by a fine of up to $200.
If the jury decides Saint Jean didn’t act recklessly, it may still convict him of a lesser included offense under the umbrella of aggravated vehicular homicide. That’s the misdemeanor vehicular homicide, which is punishable by up to one year in prison and fines.
The Fiery Prosecutor
Sweetwater County Attorney Daniel Erramouspe cast commonsense and personal accountability as staples of this case, in his closing argument Wednesday.
He emphasized that while Saint Jean was driving toward the crash scene that blocked both lanes, an ambulance passed him.
And minutes later, Saint Jean came upon a scene “that’s lit up like the Las Vegas strip,” said Erramouspe. “You have to think there’s a substantial risk there, don’t you? That there’s some sort of calamity.”
That’s what a reasonable person would do, Erramouspe said, invoking language from the part of the law that defines reckless behavior, in part, as a “gross deviation” from the standard of care a reasonable person would use.
Saint Jean had testified Tuesday that he believed emergency vehicles are generally on the right. He also saw the lights appearing on his right, he said.
Saint Jean’s expert witness in biomechanics said an array of reflections scattered the ambulance’s lights chaotically across the road.
But to Erramouspe, Saint Jean’s apparent confusion at what the lights and stimuli meant should have made him slow down even more.
“Not understanding what’s in front of you does not mean you don’t understand the risk. In fact, it’s the exact opposite,” said Erramouspe.
Later in his rebuttal closing, Erramouspe ventured a theory of his own: Saint Jean was trying to “thread the needle” and get through the crash, around the slower-moving vehicles.
“This was a person trying to get through the scene, and around whatever was on the right,” said Erramouspe.
Referring to the EMTs, he added, “They were doing their job. Someone didn’t do theirs.
“Ladies and gentlemen, if that’s not recklessness, then recklessness does not exist.”
The closing left Gruetzmacher and some of Harris’s family members sobbing in the courtroom gallery.
The Fastidious Defense Attorney
Saint Jean bowed his head and wept almost inaudibly just before his attorney Joe Hampton started his own closing.
The scene is bigger than Saint Jean’s snap decisions when he mistakenly thought the ambulance was on his right, Hampton said during that argument.
Before 4 a.m. the day of the crash, a man driving a 1999, manual-transmission Ford F-150 in two-wheel drive while hauling a trailer westward into the wind on I-80, jackknifed his vehicle.
A trucker hauling double trailers, Andrew Gibbs, saw the double-lane blockage and fled into the left-side median, getting stuck in the snow.
Another trucker working for Rey Logistics, Osvaldo Herrera-Pupo, crashed into the truck and trailer, sending the F150 spinning into the median and leaving trailer debris scattered in the left lane, while his truck was high-centered on debris in the right-hand lane.
Memorial Hospital of Carbon County EMT Tiffany Gruetzmacher drove to the scene in her ambulance, alongside her fellow EMT Tyeler Harris. She parked westward of the debris in the left lane.
Other cars passed the blockage on the right-side shoulder, according to Gibbs’ testimony.
This was a confusing scene, said Hampton.
“That is the scene Mr. Saint Jean encountered, which he testified he had difficulty perceiving,” said Hampton. The lights by Gruetzmacher’s testimony were “pretty blinding.”
They washed out true shapes; they reflected off the vehicles in the area, at least one of which – a truck and fifth-wheel trailer passing on the right – was moving, noted Hampton.
“And this is common, especially if you’ve ever driven by a police vehicle late at night,” said Hampton. “In that dark environment (bright reflections) make it difficult to identify whatever you’re looking at.”
Hampton referred to evidence that the human eye will dwell on bright lights, sometimes to the detriment of other details key to perception.
Saint Jean drove into the scene at a still-disputed speed that was somewhere between 47 to 60 mph, according to court testimony. Either way, it’s significantly slower than the speed limit of 80 mph.
He switched from the right lane to the left, saw at least one person and the ambulance, braked and hit the ambulance and both EMTs.
“It wasn’t the right move. But it was reasonable under what he thought were the circumstances,” said Hampton. “He failed to perceive the risks his conduct could pose to others.”
Failing to perceive things properly doesn’t rise to the definition of “recklessness” alleged in the two felony charges, Hampton said.
“He responded incorrectly and ended up causing a terrible accident,” Hampton added. “But it was an accident.”
Other Key Debates
Other key debates that surfaced during closing included whether Gruetzmacher parked in the right spot, how high the debris was and whether it could have blocked the visual of the ambulance’s lights to approaching traffic, and whether the Wyoming Highway Patrol or Wyoming Department of Transportation should have closed the road immediately upon hearing of a crash that blocked both lanes.
A witness called by both the state and defense, Wyoming Highway Patrol Lt. Tyler Chapman, testified that Gruetzmacher parked in the correct spot.
Had she parked off in the median she’d have gotten stuck like Gibbs. In the right lane and the Rey Logistics truck would have blocked her lights. Eastward of the crash and she heightened the risk of the ambulance being struck, Chaptman said.
“He’s wrong,” Hampton countered in closing. “(Parking there) goes against commonsense. They didn’t put out any cones, which they had in the ambulance.”
Hampton had pointed throughout trial to training literature about “blocking” the scene when arriving to it before other first responders. He concluded that the ambulance should have parked eastward of the debris.
There was an even higher chance of being struck there, but the ambulance and lights may have averted that with their greater visibility, he said.
Erramouspe countered by showing a still of a dash cam video showing WHP Trooper Scheel’s approach to the scene after Saint Jean’s collision. Going 120 mph and at about 994 feet out, Scheel’s dash cam video shows both lanes, debris and lights across them and the ambulance lights more pronounced in the left lane. Another still shot at 358 feet out shows the lights and shapes even more clearly.
The Ifs
In one of the final witness calls of the trial, Hampton had grilled Chapman about whether WYDOT should have closed both lanes upon hearing of the double lane blockage, or whether WHP should have asked it to.
At 4:01 a.m., the double lane blockage was reported, according to a call log Hampton referenced.
The ambulance left at 4:08 and arrived at the jackknife wreck 10 minutes later.
By 4:23 when Saint Jean hit the ambulance, the road remained open.
Within that interval came an entry saying, “Brendon is 10-69,” which meant the roads foreman had been advised of something, Chapman testified.
“WYDOT or Wyoming Highway Patrol dropped the ball, in requesting those roads being closed, yes?” asked Hampton.
“No,” answered Chapman. WHP can’t close the roads, though it can request its umbrella agency, WYDOT, close the roads.
It’s important for roads to stay open, if possible, because traffic abates snow and ice buildup, and because 30,000 stalled trucks can deplete a town’s resources during harsh winter conditions, said Chapman.
“We can’t close the road every time there’s a crash,” said Chapman.
This line of questioning sent Erramouspe into a frenzy of inquiries, about all the other hypotheticals that could have prevented Saint Jean from having to face this trial.
“If the defendant would have stopped before hitting Tyeler Harris, would Tyeler Harris have survived?” asked Erramouspe.
“Most likely,” answered Chapman.
Erramouspe asked other hypotheticals, such as, what if Saint Jean hadn’t gone to work for Vamar, or what if Saint Jean hadn’t come to America from Haiti in 2020.
“Lotta ifs,” said the prosecutor. “Is it the highway patrol’s fault that Tyeler Harris is dead?”
“No,” came Chapman’s answer. “Because none of us killed him.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
