Charges filed in hit-and-run that killed 4 in Wisconsin

Associated Press
Lake Hallie, Wis.
Hit And Run-Scouts Killed
Teddy bears, flowers, and candles were placed on benches outside Halmstad Elementary School in Chippewa Falls, Wis., on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2018, as a memorial to the three Girl Scouts and a parent who were struck and killed by a driver who fled the scene the day before.
Jeff Wheeler | Star Tribune via AP

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Wisconsin prosecutors have filed vehicular homicide charges against a 21-year-old man who police say was inhaling chemical vapors before he crashed his truck into a group of Girl Scouts, killing three children and one adult.

Hit And Run Scouts Killed
This photo provided by the Chippewa County Sheriff's Office in Wisconsin shows Colten Treu, who is accused of striking and killing three Girl Scouts and a parent and critically injuring a fourth girl who were picking up trash along a rural roadway near Chippewa Falls, Wis., on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018.
Chippewa County (Wis.) Sheriff's Office | AP

The 11 charges filed against Colten Treu on Tuesday include four counts of vehicular homicide and four counts of a hit-and-run resulting in death. The punishment for those charges alone is up to 160 years in prison.

The Saturday crash killed 9-year-old Jayna Kelley and 10-year-old Autum Helgeson, both of Lake Hallie, and 10-year-old Haylee Hickle and her mother, 32-year-old mother, Sara Jo Schneider, from the Town of Lafayette.

Treu is being held on $250,000 bond. A passenger in Treu's truck told police he grabbed the steering wheel when he saw that Treu "looked out of it."

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