A FedEx truck driver accused of killing a former Lengthy Island observe star and his two youngsters in a crash allegedly checked out his cellphone 25 instances and was “periodically tapping and swiping” earlier than inflicting the deadly wreck.
Santos Valentin, 30, collided with a Honda Civic carrying Donnell Hickson, 43, his son Decir, 18, and his 11-year-old daughter Kyla on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on July 20, 2024, whereas driving in his FedEx tractor-trailer, WKBN reported.
Investigators stated that the sheer pressure of the crash brought about each automobiles to be pushed off the street and that the supply truck landed on prime of the automotive.
Hickson, who was a Baldwin resident, and his two youngsters had been pronounced useless on the scene. Valentin was taken to the hospital however survived.
Valentin turned himself into police on Thursday after he was charged with three felony counts of murder by a car after prosecutors alleged he was utilizing his cellphone across the time of the collisions, based on court docket data filed on Feb. 12.
The supply driver — who was not carrying a seatbelt on the time of the wreck — instructed police that the Hickson’s Civic “got here out of nowhere” once they collided, and he was driving at a pace of round 65 to 75 mph.
Nevertheless, sprint digital camera footage contained in the FedEx truck paints a distinct image.
Prosecutors say the footage reveals Valentin “utilizing his cellphone for an prolonged time period nicely earlier than the crash,” and he had finished so about 48 seconds earlier than the deadly collision.
“Valentin seems down or glances at his cellphone a complete of 25 instances. In that very same 48 seconds, Valentin seems up or glances on the street a complete of 20 instances” and was noticed “periodically tapping and swiping the display screen,” based on Newsday.
Seconds earlier than the crash, the Honda was heading east within the left lane however modified over to the correct lane in entrance of the FedEx truck and stopped.
Investigators have but to find out why the Honda abruptly stopped.
Valentin posted his bail set at $300,000 by Magisterial District Decide Joseph Stauffer after being held within the Lancaster County Jail on Thursday.
A preliminary listening to has not but been scheduled.
A crowdfunding web page to assist Hickson’s spouse and Kyla’s mom, Keisha, and his mom, Martinique, says the “superb” father of two “was all the time that individual to gentle up any room her entered together with his nice character.”
Hickson additionally was an All-American and all-state triple jumper at York School in Jamaica, Queens, and competed at the 2005 NCAA Championships.
His son, Decir, was gearing as much as enter faculty a number of weeks earlier than he was killed within the wreck.
His 11-year-old daughter was described as “very artistic with desires of making her personal cartoon present at some point.”
“Donnell, Decir, and Kyla had been beloved members of our neighborhood,” the web page organizers, Frances Crooks and Lakeisha Barron-Williams, wrote. “Their loss is felt deeply by all who knew them.”
