Two people were charged after a crash last week that killed a woman and sent her husband to the hospital with serious injuries.
Police responded around 1 p.m. Friday to the 9100 block of Bardstown Road at Bardstown Falls Road on reports of a serious vehicle crash.
According to court documents, 42-year-old Yusnier Pachecho Bernal was driving a 2020 white Ford Mustang and was “drag racing with a blue BMW,” traveling northbound on Bardstown Road. Police identified the alleged driver of the BMW as 38-year-old Adam Steele.
According to court documents, Pacheco Bernal hit a 2021 Toyota Rav4 that was headed west across the northbound lanes of Bardstown Road from Bardstown Falls Road. Witnesses said both vehicles were traveling at a high rate of speed before the crash, which caused a huge debris field, with parts from the wreckage strewn across both the northbound and southbound lanes of Bardstown Road.
A data recorder inside the Mustang indicated it was traveling at 119.6 mph at impact, according to the arrest slip.
The woman inside the Rav4, identified in court documents as 77-year-old Myrtle Wacker, was pronounced dead at the scene. The man driving the Rav4, 74-year-old Ronald Wacker, was taken to UofL Hospital with serious injuries, including broken ribs, a punctured lung and a lacerated liver.
Pacheco Bernal is facing several charges, including murder, assault, two counts of wanton endangerment, speeding 26 mph over the limit and operating a motor vehicle with an expired license.
Steele is charged with three counts of wanton endangerment, speeding 26 mph over the limit, leaving the scene of a accident without rendering aid, racing a motor vehicle on a public highway, tampering with physical evidence and operating a motor vehicle with an expired license.
Both men pleaded not guilty to their charges in court Monday. Judge Sarah Nicholson set Steele’s bond at $150,000 and agreed to grant a request for work release for his job as a psychiatric nurse practitioner.
Pacheco Bernal’s bond was set at $250,000 full cash.
Nicholson ordered both men not to drive again for any reason. Their next court appearance is scheduled for November.
Source: WDRB
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