Truck driver pleads not guilty
Miguel Hidalgo drives trucks to support his family and is “heartbroken” over the incident in which he’s accused of running a red light and then hitting and killing a woman, his attorney said.
Hidalgo, 61, appeared in Orem’s 4th District Court Monday morning with his attorney, James Wright, to enter a not-guilty plea to the class A misdemeanor of negligent homicide stemming from an accident on Sept. 25.
“Obviously we dispute the charge that he was negligent,” Wright said. “He’s heartbroken over this. He’s struggling with the accident and what happened.”
Hidalgo, who is a U.S. citizen, was headed westbound on 800 North at about 9 a.m. He was driving through the intersection but allegedly failed to see the light change.
“What the city is alleging is the … light had been red for several seconds … and he failed to see the color of that light,” said Orem City prosecutor Robert Church. “There were no skid marks prior to impact, and he plowed into the driver’s side of a minivan, (killing) the female driver.”
