JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) -- At the flash of a police car's headlights, Jeremy Holmes apparently decided he had to get out from behind the wheel of the speeding van he was driving.
Holmes, whose driving privileges had been revoked in Wisconsin because of a bad traffic record, tried to switch seats with a passenger, police said.But the crowded van spun out of control and flipped over twice Thursday, ejecting 12 of the 14 passengers and leaving six dead on the highway.
"The bodies were scattered in all directions on the road," said police officer John Conger, whose patrol car Holmes had spotted moments before the crash. "I've never seen anything like this before and I trust that I'll never see something like it again."
Conger said he had clocked the van at 80 mph on I-80 90 about 70 miles southwest of Milwaukee.
Eight others in the van were injured, six critically. No one wore seat belts, police said.
Holmes, of Clinton, Iowa, was confused but admitted he had been driving the van, Conger said. He was treated and in police custody, hospital officials said.
Police have recommended that prosecutors charge Holmes, 20, with six counts of negligent vehicular homicide and six counts of causing great bodily harm, said Sgt. Brad Altman of the Wisconsin State Patrol.
The passenger that Holmes had tried to switch places with was among those killed, Altman said.