Legal analyst discusses murder charges in Freedom crash case

BUFFALO, NY (WIVB) – A Cattaraugus County man is facing murder charges in a crash that killed three people, including his sister.

This week, a Cattaraugus County grand jury indicted 21-year-old Evan Klink on a number of charges.

Among the most serious cases are three counts of second-degree murder, alleging a depraved indifference to human life.

New York State Police tell us Klink was behind the wheel of a pickup truck when he allegedly crossed the center line of Freedom Road.

The vehicle he collided with was driven by his 24-year-old sister, Dahlia Klink.

Dahlia, a 6-year-old and a 17-year-old passenger died in the accident.

Another 4-year-old passenger was seriously injured.

The passenger in Evan Klink’s truck was also seriously injured.

News 4 spoke with legal analyst Barry Covert, who is not involved in this case. He shared why murder charges may have been filed.

“Here, the prosecution and the grand jury assume that this person, Mr. Klink, intentionally caused the accident,” Vovert said. “And by depraved indifference he should have understood that causing a head-on collision between two high-speed vehicles, which a reasonable person would have understood, could result in the death of a person, or here three people.” This is a very different case than Vehicular homicide cases that traditionally do not involve the intent to injure.”

Klink also faces one count of aggravated vehicular manslaughter, one count of first-degree manslaughter, one count of first-degree vehicular assault, one count of reckless driving, one count of failure to drive on the right side of the road and one count of Driving when your ability to drive is impaired by drugs.

A pretrial conference is scheduled for Oct. 23.