A Wisconsin man has been charged in a crash at a construction site on Wednesday that left a 76-year-old woman and a 46-year-old construction worker dead.
Jade M. Moen, who was driving a pickup truck, was charged with two counts of reckless homicide, reckless injury, two counts of knowingly operating a motor vehicle without a vaild license causing death, recklessly endangering public safety, and knowingly operating a motor vehicle without a valid license causing great bodily harm, WISN reported.
Moen told deputies he blacked out because of a seizure. But he shouldn’t have been behind the wheel at all since his driver’s license had been revoked because of his epilepsy.
Witnesses said Moen rear-ended a car driven by the 76-year-old woman, killing her. He continued on and struck two construction workers, killing one of them.
Moen presented two identification cards after the crash, one a voided driver’s license and the other stamped with “not a driver’s license.”
“There are witnesses who state that he didn’t make any attempt to brake or swerve, and he struck two construction workers, one of whom is deceased. The person he rear-ended was pronounced deceased on scene, and then we have another individual who I’m not sure if he’ll ever be able to walk again,” Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Chelsea Thompson said in court Thursday.
Moen was taken to a hospital for treatment of his injuries and was interviewed by detectives there. He told them he’d been having seizures since 2010 and that he takes medicine for them. His wife told the detectives he has had seizures his entire adult life and that he has had seizures while driving. She said she’d been in the car with him when that happened.
A detective asked if he blacked out on those occasions, and she replied, “He’s just not there.”
“Mr. Moen had no business behind the wheel of a vehicle. He just didn’t. Zero,” Court Commissioner David Herring said on Thursday.
WDJT reported that Moen’s license was “surrendered indefinitely” last August.
Moen’s bond was set at $1 million.
If convicted on all charges, Moen faces 173 years in prison. His next court date is in July.
