An Ames man who ran a stop sign causing a fatal traffic crash earlier this year is now facing felony charges. Authorities say 42-year-old Jeffrey Clendenen was driving drunk when the crash occurred at 4:20 p.m on February 17 in Ames.
A passenger in his vehicle, 39-year-old Amy Rogers, died at the scene. Story County Sheriff’s Captain Barry Thomas says Clendenen was arrested this morning, six months after the crash.
“We want to make sure, especially when there’s a death involved, the investigation is thorough,” Thomas said. “Through the course of time, we made sure we covered all our bases and looked at all the evidence. Once we had that in hand, we made sure we made the proper decision when it came to charging him.”
Clendenen’s pickup was hit in the passenger side by another vehicle driven by 62-year-old Richard Diltz of Madrid. He suffered serious injuries.
Clendenen is charged with homicide by vehicle and serious injury by vehicle. Rogers, a mother of two children, worked at Iowa State University as a budget analyst for the graduate college. She was married to Marc Rogers, the assistant hockey coach at I.S.U.