Trucker said viewing women on Facebook at time of fatal crash
A fuel tanker driver in Arizona is allegedly so distracted by his cell phone that he loses control of his vehicle. Police have released dashcam video in an attempt to prove their case.
So much focus is placed on texting and driving. Yet it's easy to forget that the mere presence of a cell phone offers a myriad of distractions to a thoughtless driver.
In Arizona, a man behind the wheel of a fuel tanker allegedly crashed into three police cars and two fire department trucks on Interstate 8.
One police officer was killed and an investigation begun. The crash happened in May, but it was only in recent days that the investigation report was made public. It presents a picture of apparent carelessness.
Jorge Espinoza allegedly put his truck -- which was, thankfully, empty -- on cruise control. He then is said to have taken out his phone and was viewing "photographs of several women in provocative positions, wearing little clothing."
Moreover, an examination of his phone records allegedly revealed that, while driving, he had surfed not only Facebook, but YouTube, porn sites, female escort pages and other social networks.
As the Arizona Daily Star reports, he has been charged with second-degree murder, as well as other offenses.
The police have released a short dashcam video that makes for disturbing viewing.
It shows that Espinoza was, at the very least, not in control of his vehicle as it plowed into the first police car.
It also shows his Samsung Galaxy S3 fly out of his hand at impact. Police say that he had tried to mask it with his wallet.
The police cars were on the interstate in response to an earlier crash.
Espinoza was allegedly driving at 65 mph at the time at the moment of impact.