Truck driver sentenced to 22 years in prison for fatal accident while watching videos

PHOENIX, Arizona: A tractor-trailer driver who killed five people in a fiery crash because he was distracted by watching social media videos has been sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Maricopa County prosecutors said this week that 38-year-old Danny Glen Tiner pleaded guilty to five counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Investigators said Tiner was driving 68 mph in a construction zone where the speed limit is 55 mph during the January 2023 crash on Interstate 10 in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler.

Arizona Department of Public Safety officials said digital forensics showed Tiner was watching at least four social media videos on his cellphone before failing to notice traffic had stopped and a collision occurred.

The tractor-trailer struck two cars, pushing them into another tractor-trailer and two other vehicles, authorities said. The vehicles, squeezed between the tractor-trailers, burst into flames.

The Ministry of Public Security said Tiner was arrested in June 2023 after an investigation found he was responsible for the fatal accident.

Among the five victims were four men who were carpooling to their jobs as landscape gardeners.