EL PASO COUNTY — On Monday a former El Paso County Sheriff's deputy was back in court for the start of his trial.
Deputy Quinlan Linebaugh is accused of trying to pass a car on Highway 24 last July, causing a crash between a car and a dump truck that killed an elderly couple.
Several witnesses were called to the stand. One of them was Eleazar Velasquez who was the passenger of the dump truck that crashed with the truck carrying Dorothy and Kenneth Wuerfele.
Velasquez's recollection of July 24th was that he and another employee were driving on a two lane road to Calhan. That's when an El Paso County Sheriff's car with no sirens or lights suddenly came into their lane trying to pass the Wuerfele's truck. Velasquez said the dump truck's driver put on the brakes, went out of control and hit the Wuerfele's car.
Another witness was Timothy Ferrell with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. During his testimony body camera footage from him and Linebaugh was shown. In the videos you can hear Linebaugh say there was plenty of room between him and the dump truck, that he was just on his way to work and going 75 miles per hour to get around a vehicle in front of him.
Linebaugh is charged with two counts each of careless driving causing death and careless driving causing bodily injury.
Family members of the Wuerfele's were at the trial. They said they will not be speaking with News 5 until the trial ends. The trial resumes Tuesday morning at 8:30.
