A Seymour man could spend up to 60 years in prison after a car traveling at 100 mph crashed and killed a teen.
Collyn Jorgenson, 18, has been charged with first-degree reckless homicide, one count of first-degree reckless injury and one count of obstructing an officer for a crash occurring the evening of July 31.
According to the criminal complaint, Jorgenson and two passengers had been traveling to Antigo to pick up a friend from the Langlade County Jail. Reports showed that the vehicle was traveling at 100 mph when the crash happened, but it had been moving as fast as 120 mph at one time.
When the crash occurred, Jorgenson allegedly was driving a 2000 Toyota Camry along County Road D in the Town of Seneca. Diagrams that officers created indicated Jorgenson lost control when making a right turn near the County Road J intersection, left the roadway and struck a large rock. The vehicle rotated and struck another large rock, according to the complaint, and became airborne. Flying for about 150 feet, the vehicle landed on its roof, and all three people in the vehicle were ejected.
One passenger, a 14-year-old boy from the Seymour area, died from severe injuries as a result of the crash, according to the Shawano County Coroner’s Office. The other teen passenger suffered a broken fibula and tibia, along with a gash on the left hand.
Jorgenson allegedly claimed he had a couple of beers that day but did not finish the second one because it became warm, according to the complaint. A blood draw was done four hours after the crash that showed his blood-alcohol level was 0.017% at the time; based on the average alcohol elimination rate, it’s estimated that Jorgenson’s level was between 0.077% and 0.097% at the time the crash occurred.
Jorgenson initially told officers, according to the complaint, that there was a fourth person in the vehicle who had been driving at the time the Camry crashed and then fled the scene. He later recanted, allegedly, and admitted he was the driver when a search of the area found no additional person. According to the complaint, Jorgenson claimed he’d picked up a man at the Shawano Kwik Trip and let him drive.
An examination of video footage at the Kwik Trip showed the vehicle had never been there. Instead, it was discovered the vehicle had stopped at the Kwik Trip in Bonduel about 5:28 p.m., about a half-hour before the crash, and that the vehicle traveled along state Highway 29 before turning onto County Road D.
One of the victim’s phones showed a brief video prior to the crash showing the speedometer, which indicated the vehicle was traveling over 100 mph. The phone also had the Life360 app, which investigators used to determine the vehicle’s rate of speed from the Kwik Trip to the crash site. The app indicated the vehicle was traveling at speeds exceeding 120 mph on the highway.
Jorgenson has a history of reckless behavior with the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department ranging from last December to the end of May, according to the complaint. Among the charges are disorderly conduct, drinking alcohol on school property, threatening a minor and reckless driving.
Jorgenson is currently being held on an $80,000 cash bond. If convicted on the homicide charge, Jorgenson faces a maximum 60 years in prison. The reckless injury charge comes with a maximum 25-year sentence and another nine months for the obstruction charge.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
