JEFFERSON COUNTY — The trucker charged with manslaughter in a weekend crash on Interstate 55 that killed three women told officers "I think I may have dozed off," according to court records.

Richard Holden, the 45-year-old commercial truck driver from Greensburg, Louisiana, wasn’t paying attention and didn’t notice the slow-moving traffic in front of him, police said. He never hit the brakes and was traveling at nearly 70 mph when he plowed into a line of stopped cars, authorities said.

Holden's truck slammed into the back of traffic that had slowed on northbound I-55 near Festus about 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Three women were killed and Holden was among five people injured on northbound I-55, near the 183-mile marker.

On Monday, Jefferson County prosecutors charged Holden with three counts of

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