A truck driver accused of causing a fatal crash in Kansas City, Missouri, has been charged with three counts of first-degree involuntary manslaughter. The collision killed a mother and her two young sons.
Prosecutors identified the driver as 39-year-old Eldar Skander. A family fundraiser named the victims as 35-year-old Olga Sorbalo and her sons, Samir, 4, and Luis, 8.
Sorbalo’s husband, Liviu, and the couple’s youngest child survived. Six other people were taken to a nearby hospital with serious injuries, prosecutors said.
The family was on its way to the airport to fly home to Washington, Olga’s brother, Daniel Cosovan, told a local news outlet.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Skander is a Ukrainian national who entered the country under the Biden administration. The agency said the crash was preventable and described the deaths as a devastating loss for the family.
According to prosecutors, traffic had slowed to a stop when the Volvo semi-truck Skander was driving continued at a high speed and struck a black Honda Odyssey. The impact set off a chain-reaction crash. Investigators found no evidence that Skander had applied the truck’s emergency brakes before the collision.
Prosecutors also said a tablet with YouTube open was found on the truck’s floorboard.
Jail records show Skander’s bond was set at $150,000. He also has an ICE detainer. His criminal complaint lists his residence as Chicago, Illinois.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Skander received a non-domiciled commercial driver’s license from Illinois in March 2025. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is investigating the company that hired him and the state’s process for issuing the license, Duffy said.
The family fundraiser says the Sorbalos were from Vancouver, Washington, and that their deaths have left relatives, friends and members of their church community grieving.
