A bond hearing is set for this afternoon in Boone County Circuit Court for a truck driver from El Salvador charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter for last week’s deadly fiery crash on Columbia’s I-70.
26-year-old Walter Montejo is also charged with felony second degree assault and a misdemeanor count of driving while revoked: he’s pleaded not guilty. Court documents filed by Boone County prosecutors say he was driving a commercial semi-truck with a suspended license when the crash happened.
939 the Eagle News was at the Boone County Courthouse for Montejo’s Thursday arraignment, which was done via video from the Boone County jail. The truck driver wore a jail jumpsuit and spoke to the judge via an interpreter. Montejo, through his interpreter, tells Boone County Judge Kayla Inez Jackson-Williams that he’s confused by the charge of driving while revoked, saying he thought he had a license.
A court filing from Boone County prosecutors says Montejo is in the United States “temporarily on a work visa.” Montejo is jailed without bond. He’ll appear in court this afternoon at 1 via video, before Boone County judge Tracy Gonzalez.
CPD investigators say the two victims who died were in the U-haul rental truck. Columbia Police have identified the two victims as 54-year-old Cindy Helms of Tennessee and 84-year-old Melvina Colin of Colorado.
