'Bachelor' star Chris Soules charged in deadly Iowa crash

BC-US--Bachelor-Fatal Crash,8th Ld-Writethru

04/25/2017 6:10PM - 617 words

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Chris Soules, an Iowa farmer who starred on "The Bachelor" two years ago, was arrested Tuesday after authorities say he caused a traffic accident that killed a fellow farmer and fled the scene.

Soules, who was portrayed as a wholesome country boy looking for love on season 19 of the ABC reality show, was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that rear-ended a tractor in northern Iowa near Aurora on Monday night, the Iowa State Patrol said.

The crash caused the tractor to roll and go into a ditch on one side of the road, while Soules' truck went into a ditch on the other side, the patrol said. The tractor driver was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The patrol identified him as 66-year-old Kenneth Mosher, a farmer from Aurora.

Soules wasn't injured in the accident and left the area before emergency responders arrived, the Buchanan County Sheriff's Office said. He was arrested later at his home in Arlington, which is about 10 miles north of Aurora and 75 miles north of Iowa City.

Authorities said someone had called 911 to report the crash, but they didn't release the identity of the caller or audio of the call. Investigators spoke to multiple witnesses and determined that Soules caused the crash and fled, according to a complaint, which doesn't name the witnesses.

Police audio of the incident obtained by the Des Moines Register shows a deputy told a dispatcher Soules "took off" in a red truck while Mosher was unconscious in his vehicle.