ROCK SPRINGS — A 65-year-old FedEx truck driver from Utah is facing up to 30 years in prison following a deadly crash on Interstate 80 Wednesday morning.
Chris Shepherd of West Jordan, Utah, made his initial appearance before Circuit Court Judge John Prokos Friday afternoon. He is charged with felony aggravated homicide by vehicle, which carries a possible maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, felony aggravated assault and battery, which has a potential maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, and misdemeanor failure to maintain a single lane of travel, which has a potential maximum fine of $200.
Shepherd’s bond was set at $100,000 cash or surety. A preliminary hearing was set for April 29 at 9 a.m.
TahNee Alton, the prosecuting attorney representing the state during the hearing, requested the bond amount, saying Shepherd’s actions resulted in the death of one person, with another receiving serious injuries. She said Shepherd’s lack of a criminal history is less important in the case because the larger issue is the safe operation of a commercial vehicle, which she said are deadly weapons. Prokos agreed with Alton’s assessment, saying the request wasn’t exorbitant considering the circumstances of similar cases.
According to court documents, the Wyoming Highway Patrol was dispatched to mile marker 12 of the eastbound lane of I-80 at about 9:56 a.m. April 22. Upon arriving at the scene, troopers saw a GMC Sierra pickup truck towing a flatbed trailer that was parked on the right shoulder with damage to the driver’s side of the vehicle. A fatally injured man later identified as Brandon Summers laying in front of the GMC, and a FedEx truck with two trailers parked by the nearby right-of-way fence.
Cody Kreutzjans, who was an occupant in the GMC’s back seat, told troopers they had pulled the truck over because it was starting to overheat. The two front occupants, Summers and Richard Royce, got out and checked the transmission fluid and returned to the truck. The driver’s side door latch would not work, which caused Summers and Royce to get out and try fixing it. Just prior to the crash, the two men were near the slightly opened driver’s side door, with Summers standing near the truck’s B pillar, just behind Royce.
Video taken from the FedEx semi tractor-trailer combination allegedly showed investigators it was driving along the eastbound lanes and displayed Shepherd learning forward onto the steering wheel, then bouncing up and down in his seat. The video allegedly shows Shepherd then leaning back briefly, then slowly drifting toward the steering wheel.
The truck approached the GMC and began to veer to the right, crossing over the white fog line and onto the shoulder . Shepherd allegedly approaches the steering wheel a second time as the combination collides with the GMC’s trailer. During the time, Shepherd is alleged to have not reacted to the GMC throughout the video.
Summers and Royce appear to run in an attempt to avoid being hit by the FedEx combination. The combination overrode the trailer, launching the passenger side of the combination into the air. It then fell back down as it continued towards the two men. Documents state Summers was crushed under the combination and dragged a “significant distance” in front of the pickup truck and was fatally injured upon impact. Royce’s left leg and foot were crushed, with his lower leg being broken in numerous places, twisted and displaced.
