District Attorney Pete Weir announced today that charges have been filed in the double fatal vehicular homicide that occurred in Lakewood on May 19, 2019. William Lloyd Jokay-Szilagji, DOB: 6-3-91, has been charged with 20 counts, including two counts of Vehicular Homicide (F4), four counts of First Degree Assault (F3); four counts of Vehicular Eluding (F4 and F5); Aggravated Motor Vehicle Theft (F4), Second Degree Assault of a Peace Officer (F4), and Possession of a Controlled Substance (DF4).
At 1:45 a.m. Lakewood police were called to 12350 W. Nevada Place on a report of a suspicious person. According to the affidavit, when they arrived they observed a Toyota 4-Runner in the lot, with the engine running. They pulled up behind the 4-Runner and watched a male, wearing all black, run up to the vehicle. Police instructed him to stop. He ignored them and got in the vehicle. The driver of the 4-runner backed into the police cruiser, then alternated between hitting a fence in front of him and the police cruiser behind him until he broke free and got away. A Lakewood police agent was injured and the cruiser was damaged.
The 4-Runner left the parking lot at 857 South Van Gordon Court and turned off its lights. Police agents lost sight of the vehicle but aired that they thought it was headed one block east towards Alameda Pkwy.
Minutes later, two Lakewood police agents were stopped at the intersection of W. Alameda Pkwy. and S. Kipling Pkwy. when they saw a white Nissan traveling southbound on Kipling. They observed the 4-Runner traveling east on Alameda Pkwy. at a high rate of speed when it entered the intersection, against the red light, and collided with the Nissan.
Both the 26-year-old driver of the Nissan, Jacob Bowen, and his passenger, 30-year-old Jesse Edmonds, suffered fatal injuries in the crash.
Mr. Jokay-Szilagji and the two female passengers in the 4-Runner were all injured. Jokay-Szilagji remains hospitalized.
Bond was set at $1M. A court advisement date will be set when he is discharged from the hospital.
The filing of a criminal charge is merely a formal accusation that an individual has committed a crime. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. See Colo. RPC 3.6
