RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The former Marquette University men's lacrosse player charged with homicide for his involvement in the Sept. 5 car crash that killed two of his teammates will have the chance to plead his case before a jury.
Peter McColgan, 22, of Cincinnati, Ohio, appeared in court Aug. 12 for his preliminary hearing, at which Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Joseph Wall determined the state proved a felony was committed and bound the case over for trial.
McColgan now faces two counts of second-degree reckless homicide after Scott Michaud, 19, and Noah Snyder, 20, both sitting in the back seat of McColgan's Jeep, were killed in the crash.
McColgan was initially charged with homicide by negligent use of a vehicle before the prosecution upgraded the charges at the preliminary hearing, something prosecutors said they'd planned to do at McColgan's initial appearance on July 16 .
Wall granted a request from McColgan's attorneys, Nicole Masnica and Jason Luczak, to delay when their client will enter his plea. An arraignment is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Sept. 4.
"We're obviously disappointed in the state's decision to raise the charges," Luczak told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on July 17.
Around 10 people affiliated with Marquette athletics – including three of the four men's lacrosse coaches and multiple players – along with a couple of McColgan's family members attended the preliminary hearing.
Several of them could be seen wiping their eyes as Wall explained his decision to bound the case for trial, denying the defense's motion to dismiss.
McColgan 'would have had more than enough time to stop'
The prosecution called to the stand Milwaukee Police Officer William Hanney, who works in MPD's crash reconstruction unit. Hanney was one of the state's witnesses in the trial for Amandria Brunner, the other driver involved in the crash who was acquitted on all six felony charges in June .
Hanney testified during the hearing it was a little after 5 p.m. Sept. 5 when officers were sent to North 27th Street and West St. Paul Avenue. The criminal complaint says Brunner attempted to make a left turn on a yellow light through the intersection when her vehicle collided with McColgan's silver Jeep as it was entering the intersection at a high rate of speed.
The two vehicles hit driver wheel to driver wheel before the Jeep spun and hit pole. A reconstruction engineer testified at Brunner's trial that the impact McColgan's Jeep had with the pole after it collided with Brunner's pickup was more powerful than the collision it had with her vehicle.
Hanney said McColgan and another passenger in the Jeep confirmed six people were in the vehicle, which is built for five. The criminal complaint said four were in the back seat, including Michaud and Snyder, who the medical examiner determined died of "blunt force injuries sustained in the crash."
Hanney testified McColgan told officers he was traveling 35 mph at the time of the crash.
But, crash data showed McColgan was actually going 53 mph at the time of the crash, with his foot pushing the gas pedal 100% down to the floor. The posted speed limit for that stretch of North 27th Street is 30 mph.
Hanney testified McColgan was approximately 300 feet away from the intersection when the light turned yellow, his Jeep moving at 56 mph. McColgan briefly touched the brakes before putting his foot back back on the accelerator.
"He would have had more than enough time to stop, had he chose to press the brakes," Hanney said.
Jack Albright can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Arraignment set for Marquette student charged in crash that killed teammates
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