Complaint: Truck driver involved in fatal crash had hard time talking

Driver charged for 2012 crash that killed student teacher

MADISON, Wis. — The driver of a tractor-trailer involved in a crash that killed a student teacher in 2012 had a hard time talking after the crash, according to a criminal complaint.

Gary J. Lammert, 50, of Anaconda, Montana, is charged with homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle for the crash that killed Katie Binning, 22, of Madison, near Wisconsin Heights school on Highway 14 in May 2012. He was released Thursday on a signature bond and ordered not to have contact with Binning’s family or operate any commercial vehicles.

The criminal complaint said the semi Lammert was driving struck Binning’s car from behind as she slowed to turn into the school. A deputy said Lammert “had a hard time speaking as if he had some type of medical problem.”

The cause of his medical problem was due to another vehicle crash that he was involved in 2004 where he sustained serious injuries, according to the complaint. A woman sleeping in the truck at the time of the crash, Kerrie Wester, told deputies Lammert was involved in a crash in 2004 in which he drove his truck off a cliff in Colorado and woke up two weeks later in a hospital.

A search of the U.S. Department of Transportation website shows that Gary Lammert had his motor carrier license involuntarily revoked twice before the fatal crash in 2012. The records show Lammert was granted a motor property contract carrier license in 2007 before it was revoked less than four months later. That license was reinstated in 2010 and then revoked eight months later.

Binning, who graduated from Abbotsford High School and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

Lammert is scheduled to appear in court again Aug. 18. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.