Crime & Safety
Driver in Crash That Killed 4 West Des Moines Women Found Not Guilty
Kenneth Snow Jr. was acquitted of running a red light leading up to a crash that killed four elderly West Des Moines women. Three of the victims' families have filed civil lawsuits against Snow and the truck company he works for.
The driver of a large truck that crashed into and killed four elderly women in a September accident near the Des Moines Moines Golf and Country Club was found not guilty of running a red light, the Des Moines Register reports.
Kenneth Eugene Snow Jr., 44, was found not guilty after a two-day trial this week that included conflicting eyewitness testimony over whether Snow had failed to obey a traffic control device, according to the Register story.
The newspaper quotes West Des Moines authorities and documents filed with three wrongful death lawsuits as saying Snow previously had admitted running a red light at the intersection of Jordan Creek and Westown parkways in West Des Moines. Snow's tractor trailer crashed into a 2000 Infiniti I30 driven by Arlen Laughlin, killing her and passengers Frances Sechler, Marilyn Harper and Margaret Bannister.
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The Register story says jurors heard testimony that Snow told Iowa State Patrol troopers he believed his traffic light had been red. But, the newspaper said, two defense witnesses apparently cast doubt on that.
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