A truck driver has been sentenced in connection with a triple fatal crash that occurred in Indiana in the summer of 2019.
On July 13, 2020, 58 year old Missouri-based truck driver Bruce Pollard was issued a nine year sentence in a Marion County court.
Pollard entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors, entering a plea of guilty but mentally ill to nearly a dozen charges, including multiple counts of reckless homicide.
Pollard will serve his sentence in a mental health facility.
Nine years was the maximum sentence allowed under the plea agreement. A defense attorney representing Pollard argued that he suffered from mental health issues after suffering a head injury several years ago.
The charges against Pollard stem from a crash that occurred on July 14, 2019, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
While traveling in an active construction zone on eastbound I-465, authorities say that Pollard “traveling faster the posted speed limit, collided into the rear of a line of vehicles.” Indiana State Police later said that Pollard was traveling at speeds of 65 m.p.h. and that he did not touch his brakes until after he had crashed into vehicles.
A fiery eight vehicle crash ensued. A mother and her 18 month old twins perished and seven other people were hospitalized.
In August 2019, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) ordered Pollard out of service after investigators discovered that he had lied to his employer about previous unsafe driving violations.
“In applying for his latest truck driving position in June 2019, Pollard failed to disclose his employment with the previous motor carrier, failed to disclose his termination and the reason for his termination. Pollard falsely certified on his job application that he had not previously been involved in a crash. It is a violation of USDOT/FMCSA regulations to make fraudulent or intentionally false statements on a federally required, safety sensitive, document,” the FMCSA wrote in a news release.