Trucker faces charges in cyclist's death

Mon July 24 2006
Posted Jul 24, 2006
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July 24, 2006 Iowa State Patrol officers filed charges Saturday against a truck driver that struck and killed a bicyclist earlier this month in Boone County. Walter Charles Smeltzer, 51, of Woodward, was cited for failure to obey a stop sign and for not having insurance in the July 13 incident that killed bicyclist William Charles Perrier, 51, of Madrid. Iowa State Troopers were dispatched to the intersection of 300th Street and L Avenue in rural Boone County at 8:53 a.m. July 13 on a report of an accident involving a Soft Ride bicycle and a Sterling truck. Troopers determined that Smeltzer ran the stop sign and failed to yield the right of way to Perrier, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Jim Saunders, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Public Safety, said running a stop sign does not the “gross negligence” standard historically used when considering vehicular homicide charges.