Charges filed in car crash involving UA basketball transfer

DURANGO, Colo. - A 21-year-old man was charged Friday with at least 19 criminal counts in the car crash that injured University of Arizona basketball transfer Luke Recker and killed the car's driver.

Bob Conley Hardwick Jr. was charged Friday with vehicular homicide and five counts each of vehicular assault and vehicular assault while driving under the influence.

He was also charged with seven counts of careless driving resulting in bodily injury and driving under the influence.

State Trooper Mike McGuire said Hardwick's truck drifted across the center line at about 70 mph on July 10, sideswiping a pickup carrying 11 people and then hitting head-on the car in which Recker was a passenger.

John A. Hollberg, 23, of Senoia, Ga., was killed and four others were injured. Recker suffered a fracture dislocation of a small bone at the base of his left thumb, according to Dr. Arthur C. Rettig.

The hospital said Recker's should recover in three to five months.

Hardwick is being held in La Plata County Jail on $50,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 13.