Trucker who slammed into farmworkers’ van on Interstate 5, killing seven, sentenced

The long-haul trucker from California who killed seven Oregon farmworkers when his 55,000-pound semitruck smashed into a parked van was sentenced to 48 years and three months in prison Tuesday.

A Marion County jury found Lincoln Smith guilty last month of seven counts of second-degree manslaughter for the fatal crash at Milepost 240 on Interstate 5 on May 18, 2023.

Smith, 54, had spent the night before the crash getting high with hitchhikers in Sutherlin and had gotten a late start to the day, but testified he was only tired, not intoxicated, when he decided to pull into the Santiam River rest stop to sleep…

Story continues

TRENDING NOW

LATEST LOCAL NEWS