Man convicted in beating death of female trucker in Alabama

An Alabama jury convicted a man in connection with the death of a female truck driver in the Birmingham area in 2020.

On March 18, 2026, Charles Levester Gipson, 44, was convicted on a charge of manslaughter in the death of truck driver Christine Summers, 53. He was also convicted of assaulting two police officers while he was in jail.

Gipson was previously charged with murder and pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, AL.com reports.

He was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter because the jury found him to be under the influence of drugs when Summers was killed.

Summers was killed early morning hours of August 19, 2020, near mile marker 118 on I-59/20 in the Birmingham area.

Summers was driving a truck for RTR Transportation when she pulled off the interstate because she thought she might have hit a man in the roadway.

Summers was on the phone with her husband when she pulled off the roadway. She hung up and called 911 and was on the phone with a dispatcher when she got out of her truck to investigate. When she was out of the truck on foot, she was attacked and suffered a fatal head injury.

The 911 dispatcher reported hearing Summers yell “get away from me!”

The body of Summers was found by a fellow truck driver around 3:20 a.m. on August 19.

Gipson was arrested by Hueytown Police around 4:30 a.m. on August 19 after callers reported a nude man on the roadway.

Gipson is scheduled for sentencing on July 27, 2026.

Summers was a veteran truck driver of 30 years.