A Wichita Falls man has been charged in the tragic death of a 16-year rural mail carrier while driving an 18-wheeler on his 30th birthday.
Kevin Donelle Banks has been charged with criminal negligent homicide – a state jail felony – for his role in the April 20, 2018 crash that killed Dorothy Ann Truelock, 69, of Jewett
According to the Buffalo Express, Truelock was stopped on the side of U.S. Highway 79 when she was struck by an 18-wheeler driven by Banks in Leon County.
Leon County is a rural county of about 17,000 people seated about halfway between Houston and Dallas.
Banks claimed he had taken his eyes off the road when a water bottle fell, causing him to drift to the right, the Buffalo Express stated.
The newspaper reported that Banks immediately steered back onto the roadway, but his trailer hit the rear of Truelock’s vehicle. She was thrown from the vehicle, and it overturned.
The 18-wheeler then struck a guardrail before hitting a utility pole, the Express stated.
Truelock died from her injuries sustained during the wreck at the East Texas Medical Center in Tyler on April 22, 2018.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Banks was charged for acting with criminal negligence, causing the death of Truelock, “by failing to maintain a single lane of traffic and failing to keep a proper lookout while driving and striking the motor vehicle occupied” by Truelock.