MUNCIE, IN — A semi driver from Allen County charged with causing a November crash that killed a Delaware County sheriff’s deputy has received a Sept. 22 trial date.
Teddy Johnson, 39, of New Haven, is charged in Delaware Circuit Court 5 with reckless homicide, involuntary manslaughter, failure to change lanes for authorized emergency vehicle and reckless operation of a tractor-trailer combination.
Cpl. Blake Reynolds, 31, was fatally injured on the early morning of Nov. 12 while trying to help the driver of a disabled truck in the northbound lanes of the interstate north of Indiana 28. Another semi — driven by Johnson — struck both Reynolds’ patrol vehicle and the other truck, which in turn hit the deputy.
An Indiana State Police investigator reported that Johnson, whose semi-tractor trailer weighed more than 26,000 pounds, had been “awake and active for more than 21 hours” at the time of the crash and was showing “obvious signs of fatigue prior to the crash.”
“Johnson approached the scene while in the right lane with no reaction, response or recognition that there was a police vehicle with its lights flashing directly in front of his path,” the ISP investigator wrote.
He was also reportedly using a handheld electronic device while driving.
The Allen County man appeared at an initial hearing in Delaware Circuit Court 4 on Thursday, April 30.
Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. ruled Johnson would be held in the Delaware County Jail under a $25,000 surety bond.
If released from the jail, the judge said, Johnson will not be allowed to leave Indiana, must surrender his driver’s license and will be required to check in with a probation officer once each week.
Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman had asked that the semi driver be held under a $50,000 cash bond.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: September trial set for semi driver charged in crash that killed deputy
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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