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SPRINGFIELD -- Charges have been filed against the 20-year-old driver of an SUV that crashed on a southwest Missouri highway in December, killing two Missouri Southern football players.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that 20-year-old Jeremy Johnson has been charged with two counts of manslaughter in the deaths of Diondre Johnson and Michael McCrimmons, both19. He has pleaded not guilty.

Diondre Johnson and McCrimmons died when the SUV they were in rolled and collided with a tractor-trailer on Interstate 44 east of Sarcoxie.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said Diondre Johnson died after being thrown from the vehicle, and that a tractor-trailer truck then hit the students' vehicle, killing McCrimmons.

Jeremy Johnson's attorney, Tyson Martin, said his client is still in a wheelchair from injuries sustained in the accident.