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Truck driver sentenced to 25 years for fatal crash in Kentucky

Investigators say Elder was watching a video on his cellphone at the time of the crash

Jerry Elder Jr., 47, of Flint, Michigan, was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday stemming from a fatal crash on I-64 in Franklin County, Kentucky, in September 2019. Photo: Franklin County Regional Jail/Jim Allen/FreightWaves

A truck driver was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday for his role in a September 2019 multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 64 that killed one man and injured another driver in Kentucky.

In late June, Jerry Elder Jr., 47, of Flint, Michigan, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault and first-degree wanton endangerment in Franklin County Circuit Court in Frankfort, Kentucky, after a grand jury indicted him on murder charges in October 2019.

What happened?

Kentucky State Police claim Elder was watching a video on his cellphone mounted to his dashboard when he failed to stop for traffic in a construction zone near exit 58 in the westbound lane on I-64. 

According to the crash report, Elder’s tractor-trailer plowed into the rear of a 2012 Jeep Liberty driven by Jeffrey Curtis, 61, of Bedford, Kentucky, before striking a 2013 Ford Explorer driven by Trina Summers, 61, of Shepherdsville, Kentucky, around 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2019.


Curtis was pronounced dead at the scene. Summers and Elder were transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. 

Prosecutors say Elder will be eligible for parole after serving five years in the Franklin County Regional Jail in Frankfort.

Click here for more articles by FreightWaves Senior Editor Clarissa Hawes.

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Clarissa Hawes

Clarissa has covered all aspects of the trucking industry for 16 years. She is an award-winning journalist known for her investigative and business reporting. Before joining FreightWaves, she wrote for Land Line Magazine and Trucks.com. If you have a news tip or story idea, send her an email to [email protected].