Trucker In Crash That Killed 13 Pleads Guilty To Manslaughter

INDIO, CA — A 53-year-old trucker whose dozing behind the wheel near Palm Springs caused a bus to crash, killing 13 people and injuring 29 others, pleaded guilty Friday to 42 felony and misdemeanor charges and was immediately sentenced to four years in state prison.

Bruce Guilford of Covington, Georgia, admitted the offenses, including 13 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, during a pretrial hearing at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. The plea was directly to Riverside County Superior Court Judge Dean Benjamini, without input from the District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors opposed the court's stipulated sentence, filing a motion arguing that Guilford should receive the maximum sentence of 32 years, eight months behind bars, according to the D.A.'s office.

In the predawn hours of Oct. 23, 2016, Guilford fell asleep at the wheel of his big rig on westbound I-10, shortly before a tour bus approached from behind.

The trucker and other motorists had come to a stop on I-10 for five to 10 minutes following a traffic break conducted by the California Highway Patrol to facilitate utility work on the freeway.

The CHP said Guilford set his parking brake, then fell asleep as the traffic break was lifted. The defendant remained idle for about a minute, resulting in the USA Holiday Bus colliding into the rear of the semi.

The owner of the bus line, Teodulo Elias Vides, and a dozen passengers sitting close to the front of the vehicle were killed on impact.

CHP Officer Scott Parent testified in a preliminary hearing last year that, after comparing Guilford's driver logs and the GPS device on his truck, he confirmed the defendant drove in excess of maximum driving time limits nearly every day of his round trip from Eufaula, Alabama, to Salinas.

Regulations mandate that drivers spend no longer than 11 hours per day on the road, not work longer than 14 hours after one's shift begins and take a required 30-minute break per every eight hours of driving, according to testimony from the preliminary hearing.

Parent said video images captured from CHP officers conducting the traffic break and surveillance tape from a nearby FedEx building captured the truck stationary on Interstate 10 as cars slowed, then drove around it.

Guilford's attorney contended that there was no evidence Guilford was asleep at the time of the crash, and questioned Parent's summation of the data, from which he drew his conclusion that the defendant was sleep-deprived.

Guilford, who had no documented prior felony convictions in California, was arrested at his Georgia home a year after the deadly crash.

— By City News Service