A man was arrested on charges relating to a crash he was reportedly involved in that killed four teenagers more than a month ago.
On Saturday, August 2, 2014 a pickup reportedly collided with a John Deere Gator utility vehicle near Epworth, Iowa, according to KCRG, at the intersection of East Pleasant Grove Road and Hartbecke Road in Dubuque County.
According to Captain Dale O. Snyder with the Dubuque County Sheriff’s Department, Joseph Michael Connolly was southbound on Hartbecke Road when he failed to stop at a stop sign, striking the eastbound Gator. Riding in the Gator utility vehicle were four 14-year-old boys: Bryce Wilwert, Mitchell Kluesner, Nicholas Kramer, and Sean Kenneally; all of them died as a result of the crash.
Connolly turned himself in at the Dubuque Law Enforcement Center, Friday, September 12, Snyder said. He was arrested and charged with four counts of vehicular homicide by OWI, one count of serious injury by OWI, four counts of vehicular homicide by reckless driving, one count of serious injury by reckless driving, and failure to stop for a stop sign.
According to a statement from the Office of the Sheriff, vehicular homicide by OWI is punishable by up to 25 years in prison, as is vehicular homicide by reckless driving. Both serious injury by reckless driving and serious injury by OWI could warrant five years in prison.