GREEN RIVER — The truck driver who plowed into a complicated crash scene on December 21, 2022, killing one of the EMTs and striking an ambulance was found guilty on all three criminal counts Thursday.
Saviol Saint Jean, 46, collapsed on the defense table in front of him and sobbed with his head in his arms as the three guilty verdicts were read Thursday in Sweetwater County District Court. It concluded five days of trial and nearly a full day of jury deliberations.
Half of the jurors were also crying.
After the alternate was dismissed, the jury was composed of seven men and five women.
Saint Jean, who is now guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated assault, and failure to yield to emergency vehicles, faces up to 30 years in prison and fines.
His sentencing will be set at a later date.
Meanwhile, Saint Jean has returned to jail, where he was held during his prosecution by the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office.
Tiffany Gruetzmacher, an EMT who survived the crash, sat with her family while the verdict was read.
The family of the late EMT Tyeler Harris entered the courtroom as Sweetwater County District Court Judge Richard Lavery repeated the verdict, informing Saint Jean that he had been convicted on all three counts.
Gruetzmacher’s father, Michael Gruetzmacher, said it’s been a long three years.
“The unknowns — not only the medical (issues) ongoing, but the what-ifs of the criminal side of things,” he said. He continued, “We met an extended family, with the Harrises.”
Tyeler’s father, Jason Harris, told Cowboy State Daily: “Justice for Tyeler.”
Kathie Harris, the late EMT’s mother, added, “We placed all this in God’s hands, and knew he’d give us what is just and right.”
The Morning Of
Before 4 a.m. the day of the crash, a man driving a 1999, manual-transmission Ford F-150 in two-wheel drive while hauling a trailer westward into the wind on Interstate 80, jackknifed his vehicle.
Andrew Gibbs, a trucker hauling double trailers, saw the double-lane blockage and veered into the left-side median, becoming stuck in the snow.
Osvaldo Herrera-Pupo, another Rey Logistics trucker, collided with the truck and trailer, causing the F-150 to spin into the median and scatter trailer debris in the left lane, while his truck remained high-centered on debris in the right.
Gruetzmacher drove to the scene in the ambulance, alongside Harris. She parked west of the debris in the left lane.
Other cars passed the blockage on the right shoulder, according to Gibbs’ testimony.
According to court testimony, Saint Jean drove into the scene at a speed that is still disputed, ranging between 47 and 60 mph.
He swerved from the right lane to the left, saw at least one person and an ambulance, braked, and collided with the ambulance and both emergency medical technicians.
Harris was thrown into the landing gear of Gibbs’ first trailer.
Gruetzmacher was trapped beneath the Vamar truck Saint Jean had been driving.
Saint Jean “began to call onto God, saying, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, what happened?'” he testified Tuesday.
Gruetzmacher was taken to the emergency room with back, neck, head, and hand fractures, among other injuries. She continues to suffer from debilitating headaches and other chronic pain, according to her testimony last week.
Sweetwater County Attorney Daniel Erramouspe speculated in his closing argument Wednesday that Saint Jean was attempting to “thread the needle” to get past the other slow drivers, despite the double lane blockage and the ambulance’s flashing lights.
Saint Jean’s defense attorney, Joe Hampton, contended that Saint Jean, a former Haitian police officer, was navigating a chaotic scene in which Wyoming authorities should have closed the road but did not.
On The Witness Stand
Saint Jean testified Tuesday that he lived in Haiti until he was 41.
He was trained as a diesel mechanic before working as a police officer in Haiti for the last nine years, he explained.
Saint Jean stated that he worked at a “fixed” station, or a post where he had to monitor a specific region for suspicious activity.
He moved to the United States on February 16, 2020, after he and his wife discussed their daughter and the potential threat of armed groups targeting him because he is a police officer, he testified.
“We’ve decided to come here. Because I wasn’t safe there as a police officer,” Saint Jean explained through his Creole-English translator.
He first tried to join the United States Army, he said. The recruiter was initially unconcerned about his age, but he wanted a green card. Saint Jean testified that he already had a work permit.
Obtaining a green card took longer during COVID, and by the time he had one, he was 42, and his age had become an issue, Saint Jean testified.
COVID also delayed his English learning, and he admitted to using Facebook and YouTube instructors.
Saint Jean enrolled in commercial driving courses in Miami, Florida, in 2022.
Saint Jean obtained his commercial driver’s license that year and began driving a haul route for Vamar that ran from Chicago, Illinois, to Portland, Oregon, and back, alternating with a co-driver.
The Political Firestorm
During that line of questioning, Hampton touched on a political hot topic: the licensing of commercial drivers who are not proficient in English.
It is a long-standing federal rule that commercial drivers in the United States must be able to communicate with the general public, obey law enforcement orders, complete log books, and read signs in English.
President Barack Obama’s administration suspended the rule in 2016 so that highway inspectors could not pull truckers off the road for violating it.
President Donald Trump reinstated the rule this year.
Under Hampton’s questioning, Saint Jean testified that he took the CDL courses and test in English rather than Haitian Creole.
He later testified that he believes Rawlins Police Department Sgt. Christopher Craig misunderstood him during a post-crash interview on December 21, 2022.
This was due to the language barrier, but trauma was also a factor, Saint Jean explained.
Herrera-Pupo, who was driving the first truck that collided, required his co-driver to interpret English speech for him, the co-driver testified Thursday.
According to early investigative reports, there was a “slick in spots” warning sign prior to the crash, and the F-150 hit black ice. Whether ice was present by the time Saint Jean arrived remained a point of contention at trial.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Cowboy State Daily in an email on Tuesday that it “has no involvement” with either man at the moment.
Tyeler Harris
Harris was born in Laramie on April 15, 1993, according to his obituary.
He grew up in and around Riverton, met his future wife, Ashley, at Riverton High School, and graduated in 2012. He later earned an associate degree in criminal justice and an AA in general studies from Central Wyoming College.
His obituary describes him as a warm, talented, and kind father of three boys.
