SUV driver charged in teen's death

Accident scene
A fire hydrant is knocked down where an SUV veered off of 3rd Street in St. Paul. The car also struck a no-parking sign before hitting a teenage girl, killing her as she sat in a grassy area near the road.
MPR photo/Jon Collins

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office today charged a 50-year-old man with criminal vehicular homicide in the death of a teenage girl Thursday.

Carlos Viveros-Colorado was driving a maroon Ford Expedition on Third Street East in St. Paul when he veered off the road near Harding High School. His SUV plowed through a fire hydrant and no-parking sign before striking Clarisse Grime, 16. Grime had been waiting for the bus after summer school classes.

Eduardo Vazquez-Torres, 17, who was with Grime at the time of the accident, was treated at Regions Hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

In the criminal complaint, Viveros-Colorado said said both of his legs and his right arm went numb before the accident.

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Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said his office will argue that Viveros-Colorado was simply negligent.

"He was driving around the curb, and he was driving too fast, and then he lost control of the vehicle so it caused the whole series of events to occur and someone tragically lost her life," Choi said.

Viveros-Colorado is being held at Ramsey County Jail. His first court appearance is scheduled for Monday. He does not have a lawyer listed on the criminal complaint.

On Thursday afternoon, Grime was sitting in a grassy area near the road as she waited for a city bus. She was found by police near the bottom of the embankment, where she died.

Viveros-Colorado stayed at the scene of the accident, but a witness told police that he tried to reverse back into the street.

Ashley Moore, who lives two houses down from where the incident occurred, said she heard a loud noise when the accident happened.

"When she got hit, she pretty much died instantly. She was trying to hold onto her last breath and couldn't hold on," Moore said. "It was just real terrible, and I feel real sad about it because these kids sit here every day after school."

The St. Paul Public Schools had counselors available for students and staff on Friday.