Tire tracks marked with spray paint lead to where a vehicle struck three Girl Scouts and an an adult chaperone on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2018 in Lake Hallie, Wis. The western Wisconsin community is grieving the deaths of three girls and an adult who were collecting trash along a rural highway when police say a […]

Police say the 21-year-old driver accused of striking and killing three Girl Scouts and a mother and injuring a fourth girl had been inhaling chemical vapors before the crash in northwestern Wisconsin.



Authorities are recommending 13 charges against Colten Treu, including four counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle. Lake Hallie police say Treu and a passenger in his pickup truck told police they had been intentionally inhaling chemical vapors, or huffing, just before the crash around 11:30 a.m. Saturday.



The fourth-graders from the Chippewa Falls School District were picking up trash along County Highway P as part of a community service project when they were struck.



The victims were among seven children and five adults who were working in the ditches along the roadway.





8:30 a.m.



Authorities have identified the three Girl Scouts and a parent killed after they were struck by a pickup truck along a rural Wisconsin highway.



Lake Hallie police say 9-year-old Jayna Kelley and 10-year-old Autum Helgeson, both of Lake Hallie, were killed in the Saturday morning collision. Ten-year-old Haylee Hickle and her 32-year-old mother, Sara Jo Schneider, from the Town of Lafayette, were also killed. Authorities say another 10-year-old Girl Scout who was injured, but not identified, is hospitalized in stable condition.



The victims were picking up trash in the ditches of County Highway P when they were struck Saturday about 11:30 a.m. Police have arrested 21-year-old Colten Treu, of Chippewa Falls. He is jailed on 13 possible charges, including homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle.



Treu is expected to appear at a bond hearing at 10 a.m. Monday.

