Truck driver gets two years for wreck that killed couple
Published: April 1, 2009
Updated: April 1, 2009
CULPEPER—An Albemarle County man will spend more than two years in prison for causing a 2007 accident that left a King George couple dead.
Circuit Court Judge Jack Berry sentenced Alvin R. Thompson, 55, to 10 years yesterday, suspending all but two years and three months of the sentence.
Berry also ordered Thompson to remain on good behavior for five years and put him on supervised probation for two years after his release. Thompson pleaded guilty to the charges in December.
The Sept. 1, 2007, crash killed 22-year-old Joshua L. Burke and his wife, 19-year-old Ashley Burke. Another passenger, John Lizotte, was ejected in the crash and severely injured.
According to police and witnesses, Thompson, who was driving a 2006 Kenworth tow truck northbound on U.S. 29, ran a red light and collided with a 2003 GMC pickup truck being driven by Burke.
Authorities say one vehicle had made it through the intersection before Burke’s truck was hit broadside by the tow truck, which was hauling another commercial box truck.
Prosecutors say they argued for longer prison time because of the toll on the victim’s families and two other factors—that Thompson had a commercial drivers license and was operating such a large vehicle compared to other motorists.
In a statement, Commonwealth’s Attorney Gary Close said he hoped that the sentence would “serve as a wake-up call for the importance of emphasizing and enforcing safety on our public highways.“
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Reader Reactions
I don’t know the facts of this case, but by this report the people were killed ACCIDENTally. Putting this man in prison for 2 years is insane. What good does it serve?
It reinforces my belief that judges need to plug facts into a database and receive a ruling. This business of disparate decisions based on whether a judge likes you or your family, or whether a crime is committed in one part of the country versus another, is hogwash.
Driver with CDL ran a red light. Most people have run red lights at one time or another, even this judge in all liklihood, accidentally. For this tow truck driver, a horrible accident ensued and people were killed—accidentally. Okay, those are the facts, now feed them into a computer to see how the majority of judges deem it should be ruled, and there’s your answer. If justice is truly blind, there’s justice. Not based on skin color or whether the judge knew victims or whether the judge doesn’t like your lawyer, etc.
I think it was an accident, the driver was not drunk or anything. I don’t think he was trying to rob them either. The driver in the other case was just as involved as the one that did the shooting. He knew they were going out to rob someone. I see absolutely no comparison in these two.
2 years for 2 lives - so i guess he would have had to commit this crime 8 more times in order to be sentenced to the 18 yrs the driver in the binsted case received (the driver who harmed nobody)- HEY! luckily he wasn’t a successful coke dealer like “LIFE” then he would have deserved 28yrs! Thank god all he did was kill 2 people, selling coke gets a sentence 14 times longer.
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