RENO -- A teenager pleaded guilty to two counts of reckless driving and faces up to 12 years in prison for a wreck at Lake Tahoe in June that killed one of his passengers and seriously injured two others.
Chris Richarde, 18, of Incline Village entered the plea Tuesday before Washoe County District Court Judge Steven Kosach, said Deputy District Attorney Richard Whomes.
Richarde was driving his Toyota 4Runner at an estimated 56 mph in a 25 mph zone on Ski Run Boulevard near the Big Water Grill in Incline Village the evening of June 2 when he slammed into a big pine tree.
Wesley Garrigan, 15, was killed when he was thrown from the rear seat through the windshield, Whomes said
Two other female passengers from Incline Village also were injured, a 15-year-old who broke both legs and a 14-year-old who suffered severe head cuts.
The vehicle hit the tree outside the restaurant parking lot so hard that the top 20 feet of the tree flew off into the road, Whomes said in a statement Wednesday.
"If the vehicle had not hit the pine tree, it would have gone over a sizable, steep incline, where it certainly would have rolled over," he said.
Richarde faces up to six years in prison and a $5,000 fine for each of the two counts, although probation also is a possibility, Whomes said.
Sentencing is set before Kosach on May 6.
