Defendant says he drank 2 beers, shot before crash

Prosecutors say the man accused of driving drunk and killing three people along a Wisconsin interstate told an investigator he had two beers and a shot of liquor hours before the crash.

Bradley Erickson is charged with three counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle for the crash last week that killed 19-year-old Marcus Johnson of Milwaukee, 20-year-old Elysia Rapp of Racine and 23-year-old Wilfredo Ugarte of Puerto Rico. Johnson and Ugarte were members of the University of Minnesota's cheerleading squad.

A criminal complaint says Erickson told an investigator he didn't see the victims' car parked along Interstate 39/90 near Madison because he had gone around a semitrailer. The victims were changing a flat tire.

The Wisconsin State Journal says Erickson is expected to make a court appearance Wednesday afternoon.

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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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