A truck driver who was involved in a deadly 7-vehicle pileup that resulted in the death of a Lutherville, Maryland man has been sentenced to 10 to 23 months in jail.
The accident occurred on July 18, 2012, on Interstate 81 in Lexox, Pennsylvania. Crash investigators who analyzed Doucoure’s GPS data said that driver Samba Doucoure, 43, was traveling north on Interstate 81 when he entered a construction zone at 62 mph.
Doucoure was unable to slow his truck and plowed into a line of vehicles.
In September, Doucoure pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the death of Brian Wilcox, 56, who died in the pileup.
According to the Independent Weekender, Judge Kenneth Seamans called the truck a “ticking time bomb of tons…of rubber and steel.”
District Attorney Jason Legg said the 2007 Freightliner Doucoure was driving was in great disrepair and had not been inspected in more than a year and compared the operation of the truck to playing a game of Russian roulette.
“It was only a matter of time before something was going to happen,” he said.
Wilcox’s wife stated in court that Doucoure willingly drove a vehicle he knew was in “great disrepair.” Wilcox’s wife, Eileen, listed the truck’s numerous violations, and Attotrney Legg told the court the truck had faulty brakes, a flat tire and other tires with steel belts showing.
In addition, Pennsylvania State Police MCEO Rian Stann found that “the brakes on axles two and three were inoperable; the brakes on axle four were out of adjustment; the right brake of axle five was inoperable and the left brake was out of adjustment,” the Independent Weekender reported.
Stann said the truck was the “worst vehicle he had seen in his career,” the Independent Weekender reported.
Doucoure is working with police and prosecutors and charges may be brought against the truck’s owner.