Dan Colton / Staff file Photo A tractor-trailer blocks all traffic lanes of Route 4 in Killington after a crash that killed three people this past winter.
The driver of the tractor-trailer that collided with a sport utility vehicle in a December 2015 triple fatality on Route 4 in Killington has been charged in Rutland criminal court with three counts of gross negligent operation of a vehicle with death resulting.
Vermont State Police reported Tuesday afternoon that Lashawn Jones, 41, of Alpharetta, Ga., drove the 2016 International 18-wheel tractor-trailer in a grossly negligent manner on Dec. 29 during hazardous operating conditions.
At the time of the accident, roads were still slick after an overnight snowfall and ongoing freezing drizzle had created icy patches, police said.
At about 2:15 p.m., Jones veered into the other lane and crashed into oncoming traffic near Shady Knoll on Route 4, police said.
Five members of the Malarczyk family of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., along with a family friend from Poland were traveling toward Killington Ski Resort when the tractor-trailer collided with their 2009 Cadillac Escalade.
Husband and wife Ryszard Malarczyk, 51, and Anita Malarczyk, 50, along with their friend, Jaroslaw Karczewski, 51, were pronounced dead at the scene. The Malarczyks’ three children who were riding in the back — Natalie Malarczyk, 16, Peter Malarczyk, 20, and Monica Malarczyk, 22 — were severely injured but survived the crash.
Killington Police Chief Whit Montgomery, who was one of the first responders on the scene, said because of the fatalities and the number of people injured, this was one of the biggest crashes on the mountain that he has seen.
“Unfortunately, too many of these happen,” he said in an earlier interview. “But this is one of the worst.”
The tractor trailer was owned by Roehl Transport Inc. of Marshfield, Wis., State Police said.
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Roehl’s 2,205 drivers drive almost 193 million miles each year and have been involved in five reportable fatal crashes since 2014.
Calls to Roehl’s headquarters on Tuesday, regarding the crash, were not returned. It is not known whether Jones was a contract driver or a Roehl employee.
According to a previous statement, members of the Vermont State Police Crash Reconstruction Team responded to assist troopers from the Rutland Barracks with the investigation. Montgomery said Killington Police, Killington Fire and Rescue, the Department of Motor Vehicles and Regional Ambulance Service assisted at the crash scene.
At the time of the crash, State Police Lt. Charles J. Cacciatore said it would be a lengthy investigation.
Jones is scheduled to appear June 27 in Rutland criminal court for arraignment.
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