The Truck Accident Law Firm Blog

After an unbelievable chain of events, an Illinois truck driver was sentenced to 20 years in prison for causing a fatal truck accident and subsequent pile-up that resulted in two fatalities. The Illinois man, at the time of the accident, was driving a tractor-trailer without a license and was under the influence of drugs in the 2006 collision that left two people dead, one a teenager. The truck driver fell asleep at the wall, hit a guardrail and then came to a stop blocking lanes and causing a massive traffic pileup. Another trucker, unable to stop, was killed in this collision and so was a 15-year-old girl who was in one of the stopped cars.

What is even more infuriating about this "accident," is that it could have been avoided had the man been denied a license as he should have been. This was the third fatal accident involving this truck driver. Twenty years ago he was acquitted of criminal recklessness in a boating accident that took the life of a 12-year-old boy. Then in 2001, he pleaded guilty to hitting and killing a Chicago man with his truck while he was driving drunk. He left the scene of this accident, also. When he was released from prison in 2005, he applied for a license and he got one because the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles claims it was never informed of his license suspension! When the last incident happened in 2001, he had been driving 40 hours straight with only two breaks of two hours each!

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a truck accident, you do have legal rights. Please contact an experienced truck accident attorney in your area today to schedule a no-cost, confidential consultation to discuss how to get the compensation you need and deserve following this tragic event.