88-year-old man overrode pickup truck's automatic brakes and 'aggressively' accelerated into group of people eating ice cream, killing 1: Police

Inset: Joshua Douglass (Legacy.com obituary). Background: News footage of the aftermath of the clang that killed Joshua Douglass and injured respective others (KCNC).

An aged Colorado antheral faces respective felony charges aft investigators said helium accelerated his pickup motortruck toward a radical of pedestrians aft a bicycling event.

Van Lemaster, 88, was charged with felony vehicular homicide, 4 counts of vehicular assault, and 2 counts of reckless endangerment successful transportation with a car crash that killed 33-year-old Joshua Douglass connected Aug. 29. According to tribunal documents obtained by section quality outlet Cowboy State Daily, Lemaster was behind the wheel of his Chevrolet Silverado pickup motortruck that time erstwhile helium and an unnamed pistillate were preparing to permission aft having luncheon astatine a edifice successful Fort Collins, Colorado.

The aforesaid day, Fort Collins was holding its yearly Tour de Fat, a costumed bicycle parade and festival, and respective cyclists were riding done the aforesaid country arsenic Lemaster portion helium was trying to backmost retired of his parking space.

According to the tribunal documents, Lemaster allegedly backed into a Nissan Altima portion trying to get retired of the parking spot and besides debar hitting cyclists. A witnesser told constabulary that Lemaster threw the motortruck into thrust aft helium "revved the motor aggressively." After Lemaster accelerated, helium reportedly jumped the curb and deed respective bicycles and a handicapped parking sign.

Investigators said Lemaster past accelerated into a radical of pedestrians, including Douglass and his girlfriend, 1 of whom was thrown into the outdoor seating country of a adjacent crystal pick parlor. Douglass was allegedly dragged underneath the motortruck until it stopped moving. According to the tribunal documents, the motortruck deed 2 much people, and 1 idiosyncratic was thrown onto a passerby who had been knocked down.

Lemaster suffered a caput wounded successful the clang and was treated astatine the hospital. Douglass was taken to the hospital, wherever helium was pronounced dead.

When investigators obtained information from Lemaster's Silverado, they determined that the motortruck had an automatic exigency braking strategy that detected Douglass and the different pedestrians and successfully activated its "Alert and Brake" function. However, investigators said that arsenic the strategy engaged the brakes, Lemaster allegedly continued to property his ft to the state pedal "at 99%."

According to the tribunal documents, Lemaster's continued acceleration overrode the automatic brakes, which investigators said would person worked to forestall the motortruck from colliding with pedestrians.

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Police said Lemaster was not intoxicated astatine the clip of the crash, nor were determination immoderate mechanical defects connected the portion of the vehicle. While an nonstop crushed for Lemaster's alleged acceleration was not clear, investigators determined that his driving was reckless.

Lemaster did not look connected the inmate roster for Larimer County Jail, wherever helium was reportedly booked connected Friday. Cowboy State Daily reported that his enslaved was acceptable astatine $75,000. His adjacent tribunal quality was scheduled for Oct. 22.

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