Vehicular homicide charge filed in bicyclist's 2017 death

PHILADELPHIA (FOX 29) - A garbage truck driver has been charged with vehicular homicide in the death of a bicyclist in Philadelphia.

Twenty-eight-year-old Jorge Fretts of Philadelphia was also charged Tuesday with involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangering.

Authorities said the privately owned trash truck struck 24-year-old pastry chef Emily Fredricks as it turned in November 2017. Anthony Voci, chief of the district attorney's homicide unit, said interior video showed that the driver was wearing earbuds in violation of the law and looking down at paperwork rather than at his side-view mirrors.

Truck owners Gold Medal Environmental in September reached a $6 million settlement with Fredricks' family and agreed to contribute $125,000 toward making roads safer for bicyclists.

Fretts was ordered held on $100,000 bail; his attorney didn't immediately return a message seeking comment Wednesday.