Teh One Who Knocks
11-01-2013, 10:55 AM
The Associated Press
TUCSON, Ariz. -- A big-rig driver was looking at cellphone photos of scantily clad women when he slammed into police cars and emergency vehicles on a Yuma County freeway in a crash that killed an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer, according to records released Thursday.
Records obtained from the DPS by the Arizona Daily Star through a public records request show that Jorge Espinoza was driving an empty fuel tanker truck 65 mph with cruise control on when the May 6 crash occurred.
He was travelling from Yuma to Phoenix and wasn't injured in the crash.
Espinoza, 33, initially told investigators he didn't see the police cars because he was looking in his mirror at a passing truck, according to DPS. He also told authorities that he never uses his phone while driving because it's against company policy.
But the DPS records show information taken from the phone shows Espinoza was using the internet at the time of the crash and was looking at ``photographs of several women in provocative positions, wearing little clothing'' and ``photographs of a woman in a low cut dress.''
Espinoza, 33, used his phone to look at Facebook, YouTube, female escort web pages, porn sites and social networks on other occasions when he was logged in as driving, according to investigators.
Officer Tim Huffman, a 14-year DPS veteran, was killed when the tanker truck smashed into three police cars and two fire department trucks at an accident site near Wellton on Interstate 8.
Authorities said Huffman, 47, was in his patrol vehicle writing a report at the time. He was declared dead at the scene.
Espinoza, of Yuma, has pleaded not guilty to 20 felony charges including one count of second-degree murder, 13 of endangerment and six of criminal damage.
``Espinoza would have been able to perceive the danger in the roadway and not cause the death of Officer Tim Huffman, endangered the lives of 11 other emergency responders and destroyed six vehicles, including a new semi-tractor and trailer owned by his employer, if he had not chosen to distract himself while accessing Facebook from his cellular telephone while operating his assigned commercial vehicle,'' investigators concluded in the DPS report.
Espinoza is out of custody in $200,000 bond. His hearing Wednesday in Yuma County Superior Court was continued until Dec. 11 to give his attorney, Michael Donovan, more time to interview witnesses in the case.
A call to Donovan seeking comment about the DPS records and his client wasn't immediately returned Thursday.
TUCSON, Ariz. -- A big-rig driver was looking at cellphone photos of scantily clad women when he slammed into police cars and emergency vehicles on a Yuma County freeway in a crash that killed an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer, according to records released Thursday.
Records obtained from the DPS by the Arizona Daily Star through a public records request show that Jorge Espinoza was driving an empty fuel tanker truck 65 mph with cruise control on when the May 6 crash occurred.
He was travelling from Yuma to Phoenix and wasn't injured in the crash.
Espinoza, 33, initially told investigators he didn't see the police cars because he was looking in his mirror at a passing truck, according to DPS. He also told authorities that he never uses his phone while driving because it's against company policy.
But the DPS records show information taken from the phone shows Espinoza was using the internet at the time of the crash and was looking at ``photographs of several women in provocative positions, wearing little clothing'' and ``photographs of a woman in a low cut dress.''
Espinoza, 33, used his phone to look at Facebook, YouTube, female escort web pages, porn sites and social networks on other occasions when he was logged in as driving, according to investigators.
Officer Tim Huffman, a 14-year DPS veteran, was killed when the tanker truck smashed into three police cars and two fire department trucks at an accident site near Wellton on Interstate 8.
Authorities said Huffman, 47, was in his patrol vehicle writing a report at the time. He was declared dead at the scene.
Espinoza, of Yuma, has pleaded not guilty to 20 felony charges including one count of second-degree murder, 13 of endangerment and six of criminal damage.
``Espinoza would have been able to perceive the danger in the roadway and not cause the death of Officer Tim Huffman, endangered the lives of 11 other emergency responders and destroyed six vehicles, including a new semi-tractor and trailer owned by his employer, if he had not chosen to distract himself while accessing Facebook from his cellular telephone while operating his assigned commercial vehicle,'' investigators concluded in the DPS report.
Espinoza is out of custody in $200,000 bond. His hearing Wednesday in Yuma County Superior Court was continued until Dec. 11 to give his attorney, Michael Donovan, more time to interview witnesses in the case.
A call to Donovan seeking comment about the DPS records and his client wasn't immediately returned Thursday.