Truck driver charged with homicide a year after double fatal crash

On Thursday, authorities in Pennsylvania filed charges against a truck driver in connection with a crash that killed two siblings in the spring of 2021.

Thirty-eight year old Florida-based truck driver Cesar Torres has been charged with two counts each of homicide by vehicle, a third-degree felony, and involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree misdemeanor, as well as charges for failure to stop at a red signal and driving at a safe speed, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office.

The charges were issued as a result of a crash that occurred around 9 p.m. on May 22, 2021, at the intersection of Main Street and Graystone Road in East Petersburg Township, Pennsylvania.

When officers arrived at the scene of a two vehicle crash involving a pickup and a tractor trailer, both vehicles were on fire with the pickup overturned and resting on its roof.

The two occupants of the pickup, siblings Brandie and Leonard Kasper, were pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy confirmed that the siblings died from smoke inhalation and thermal burns and multiple traumatic injuries they received as a result of the collision.

A post crash investigation reportedly determined that the truck driven by Torres went through a steady red traffic light and struck the passenger side of the pickup truck, which was traveling west on Graystone Road through a green traffic light. A mechanical inspection of the tractor-trailer could not determine any pre-collision mechanical defects or failures due to the fire damage, and no pre-existing defects were reported by the defendant.

“Through the investigation, it was concluded that Torres was the sole contributor to the cause of the collision, which resulted in two fatalities, and failed to stop for a clearly visible red traffic signal even though he had sufficient time and distance to see the light and come to a controlled stop prior to the intersection,” the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office said.