The FedEx truck driver was accused of accusing the former Long Island truck star and his two children of crashing.
Santos Valentin, 30, collided with a Honda citizen carrying his son, Decourt and his 11-year-old daughter, Kyla, 43, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on July 20, 2024. wkbn It has been reported.
Investigators said the strong force of the crash forced both vehicles off the road and the delivery truck landed on top of the vehicle.
Baldwin resident Hixon and his two children were declared dead at the scene. Valentin was taken to the hospital but survived.
Valentin became police on Thursday after prosecutors were charged with three felony murders by a vehicle after he allegedly used a phone around the time of the crash. Court records Submitted on February 12th.
The delivery driver was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the wreck – told police that he “climbed from anywhere” when a Hixon citizen collided, and he drove at a speed of about 65-75 mph He said he was doing it.
However, dashcam footage inside a FedEx truck draws a different picture.
Prosecutors say the footage shows Valentin “who had been using his phone for a long time, well before the collision,” and did so about 48 seconds before the fatal collision.
“Valentin looks down at his phone 25 times in total, or looks down at his gaze. In the same 48 seconds, Valentin looks up 20 times in total, or looks at the road at a glance, and “swipe regularly on the screen and swipe.” “It was observed. Newsday.
Seconds before the crash, Honda was heading east of the left lane, but then stopped in the right lane in front of the FedEx truck.
Investigators have yet to determine why Honda suddenly stopped.
Valentin posted a $300,000 bail by Magistile District Judge Joseph Stauffer after being detained at the Lancaster County Jail on Thursday.
A preliminary hearing is not scheduled yet.
A crowdfunding page supporting Hixon's wife and Kaila's mother Keisha and his mother Martinique said that “surprising” father “always to illuminate the room that the person entered with his great personality. It was that person.”
Hixon was also an All-American and All-State triple jumper Queens, York College, JamaicaHe competed in the 2005 NCAA Championship.
His son, Decir, was preparing to enroll in college a few weeks before he was killed in a shipwreck.
His 11-year-old daughter was said to be “very creative, dreaming of one day creating her own cartoon show.”
“Donnell, Decir and Kyla were beloved members of our community,” wrote page organizers Frances Crooks and Lakeisha Barron-Williams. “Their losses are felt deeply by everyone who knows them.”
