Ohio truck driver sentenced to 26 years for DUI wrong-way fatal crash

A truck driver has been sentenced to more than two decades in prison for a fatal crash that occurred in Virginia earlier this year.

Thirty-one year old Ohio-based truck driver Travis Lee Tolliver was sentenced in Wise County Circuit Court to 26 years in prison with four years suspended. The prison sentence is to be followed by five years of supervised release.

Tolliver previously pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular manslaughter, driving a vehicle while intoxicated with reckless disregard, and driving a vehicle while intoxicated.

The charges were issued following a crash that occurred on February 24, 2021 in Wise County, Virginia.

Authorities said that Tolliver “traveled in the wrong direction along Route 23 for approximately 2 miles before crashing head-on into another vehicle.” The passenger in the vehicle, 22 year old Perry S. Owens, was killed. The driver, 20 year old Amanda Gail Pearson, was seriously injured.

A blood test performed on Tolliver tested positive for methamphetamine, fentanyl, and amphetamines, according to prosecutors.

“Under Virginia law, someone operating a motor vehicle with 0.1 or more milligrams of methamphetamine per liter of blood is presumed to be under the influence,” said Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Steven Davis. “In this case, the defendant had 17 times the presumptive amount in his blood. It’s unbelievable that someone with this level of intoxication could barely function, let alone drive an enormous vehicle on the highway.”

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued Tolliver a federal out of service order on March 5, 2021. Following the crash, FMCSA investigators determined that Tolliver had failed to maintain records-of-duty-status on the day of the crash. In the days leading up to the crash, investigators found several HOS and record-of-duty regulation violations.