A judge has declined to dismiss charges alleging that a man accused of killing three Wisconsin Girl Scouts and a mother in a hit-and-run was high on fumes from an aerosol can at the time.
Colten Treu appeared in Chippewa County court Friday for a preliminary hearing.
The 22-year-old is accused of huffing from an aerosol canister before crashing his pickup truck into members of Girl Scout Troop 3055 in November as they picked up litter along a highway in Lake Hallie.
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Treu’s attorney said there was no evidence Treu had been huffing, citing a blood sample that failed to detect any chemicals. Prosecutors countered that Treu left the scene so a blood draw wasn’t taken until that evening.
Four of the 11 counts involve the huffing allegation. Judge James Isaacson set Treu’s arraignment for May 24.
The four people killed in the crash were 9-year-old Jayna Kelley, 10-year-old Autumn Helgeson, both of Lake Hallie, 10-year-old Haylee Hickle and her mother, 32-year-old Sara Jo Schneider, from Lafayette.
A fifth person, Madalyn Zwiefelhofer, was injured.
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