CENTENNIAL, Colo. — A Centennial man who had been formally charged in connection with a deadly crash that killed a trooper in March entered a plea in Weld County District Court Wednesday.
John Carpenter pleaded guilty to failure to exercise due care when approaching a stationary vehicle, a felony, according to the Weld County District Attorney's Office.
A second charge, careless driving, was dismissed, the DA said.
Carpenter will not be given a prison sentence due to an agreement from both sides, according to the DA. The court will decide what other sentence he will be given at a hearing in December.
In an earlier interview with 9NEWS, Carpenter said the wind along Interstate 76 that day was strong enough to blow his left tires "completely off of the asphalt" just ahead of the time of the crash that killed 52-year-old Colorado State Patrol Cpl. Daniel Groves.
Groves was outside his patrol car on the rural stretch of highway helping someone whose vehicle had gone off the road when he was hit and killed.
That was during the "bomb cyclone," a March blizzard that brought extremely strong wind gusts and whiteout conditions to much of the Front Range and Eastern Plains, including the area along I-76 where Groves was assisting the motorist.
Carpenter said he was driving his Volvo station wagon from Chicago westbound on I-76.
"My car was at the mercy of the wind," Carpenter said in an earlier interview.
At the time of the crash, CSP said they investigated both poor driving conditions and speed as factors in the crash.
Hundreds of law enforcement officials and community members gathered on March 20 to honor Groves at a memorial service in Longmont.
Carpenter's sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 4 at 2 p.m.
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