Чтение Чтение Homicide charge for FedEx driver accused of plowing into men fixing truck on I-80

A routine roadside repair along a lonely stretch of Interstate 80 turned deadly in seconds when a FedEx delivery truck drifted off the road and slammed into a disabled pickup on the eastbound shoulder, killing one man and catastrophically injuring another. The entire sequence was captured on the commercial truck’s camera last week, and the Utah man who was driving the delivery truck is facing decades in prison.

Chris Shepherd, 63, of West Jordan, Utah, has a preliminary hearing set for Wednesday in Sweetwater County Circuit Court following his Friday arrest for the April 22 crash, according to court documents. An affidavit of probable cause says Shepherd was heading east on I-80 near mile marker 112 when he veered onto the shoulder and plowed into a GMC pickup that had been pulled over with mechanical trouble. Two men were standing outside the truck at the time.

Brandon Summers and Richard Royse had pulled off the highway after their pickup began overheating, the affidavit says. They were checking the transmission fluid and trying to fix a driver’s side door that wouldn’t latch. It was the kind of roadside problem thousands of drivers deal with every day.

“Upon arrival, Trooper Keeley observed a GMC Sierra pickup pulling a flatbed trailer on the right shoulder with damage to the driver’s side,” the affidavit says. “A prone, adult male on the right shoulder in front of the GMC pickup, whom appeared to be fatally injured, later identified as Brandon Summers; and a FedEx truck with two trailers near the right of way fence.”

Summers stood near the pillar of the truck just behind Royse as they worked, according to a third man who was in the back seat when the crash happened. The two front seat occupants got out, checked the fluid, then entered the truck. The driver’s door wouldn’t latch, so they exited again to fix it. Then the FedEx truck came.

Investigators say Shepherd swerved onto the shoulder and struck the back of a trailer attached to the GMC, launching the right side of the delivery truck into the air. Cameras inside the FedEx vehicle captured video of the men desperately trying to escape. Though they tried to move out of the way, one of them didn’t make it.

“Just before the FedEx truck collides with the subjects and vehicle, Summers and Royse run in what appears to be an attempt to avoid being struck,” the affidavit says. “The FedEx truck overrode the rear of the flatbed trailer, launching the passenger side of the FedEx truck up in the air. As the FedEx continues forward toward the two male subjects, it falls back down toward the road.”

Summers was crushed, then dragged in front of the pickup and into the borrow ditch, where he was killed on impact. Royse survived — barely. Court records describe his devastating injuries: his left leg broken in multiple places, twisted and displaced, with his big toe “hanging on by a small amount of flesh.”

Inside the cab, cameras show Shepherd “bouncing up and down in the seat” before leaning back and drifting forward toward the steering wheel. The affidavit says he did not react to the disabled truck until after the collision had already happened. It does not say why the delivery vehicle left its lane and went onto the shoulder.