The truck driver involved in the high profile crash that injured actor Tracy Morgan has pled guilty to several charges in order to avoid jail time.
Kevin Roper, 37, pled guilty to charges stemming from a June 2014 crash that severely injured Morgan and killed James “Jimmy Mack” McNair when he reportedly failed to slow in a construction zone on the New Jersey Turnpike and crashed into a limo. Three other people were also hurt in the crash.
Investigators claimed that Roper hadn’t slept for 28 hours prior to the crash and even said that Roper had passed a rest area shortly before the crash.
Roper pled guilty to charges of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault. In exchange for the guilty plea, he will be entered into a three year pre-trial intervention program. He will be required to perform 300 hours of community service, stay employed, and stay out of legal trouble while enrolled in the program. If he meets all of these conditions, the charges against him will be dismissed.
Without the plea deal, Roper was facing up to 30 years in prison.
The NTSB investigation into the crash found that driver fatigue was a factor.
Walmart has already reached a multi-million dollar settlement with Morgan and McNair’s children.
Roper’s lawyer says that he is grateful for the plea deal: “It puts his future in his own hands. He’s led an exemplary life up until that one mistake. And, assuming it’s going to go forward like that, he has his destiny in his own hands, and he won’t have a record.”
Sources:
NJ.com
NBC Philadelphia
NY Daily News