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The truck driver who caused a chain-reaction crash that killed five people on Interstate 95 two summers ago pleaded guilty to five misdemeanors on Friday and was sentenced to the maximum of 150 days in jail.
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Charles Christian Haskell of Las Vegas was driving a tractor-trailer full of orange juice at 70 mph when he plowed into the back of slow-moving cars and trucks on I-95 near Kenly on July 24, 2024. Investigators say Haskell never braked as traffic slowed to a crawl ahead of a work zone where contractors had closed a lane to trim trees.
Haskell was charged with misdemeanors because he was not impaired at the time and there’s no evidence that he intended to cause the crash. Wilson County District Court Judge Ed Brown sentenced him to 75 days for each life he took, but under state law the most he will remain in jail is 150 days.
The punishment seemed wholly inadequate to the family of Linda Warren Whitehurst of Robersonville, who died along with her sister Martha Warren Davis and brother-in-law Edward Carroll Davis of Greenville as they returned from a medical appointment in High Point.
Whitehurst’s son-in-law, Roger Bell, told Brown that the family learned only the night before that Haskell could serve no more than 150 days in jail. Bell said they were in a “state of shock.”
“The charges, for us as a family, don’t fit the crime,” he said. “I know there’s nothing that can be done about it at this point. It’s just hard to see how misdemeanor charges are filed here.”
Bell said someone who disturbs a sea turtle nest in North Carolina faces a harsher penalty (up to a year in jail) than someone who kills five people on the highway.
“He can serve 150 days, and he can move on with his life,” Bell said of Haskell. “We’re going to deal with this the rest of ours.”
Haskell’s attorney, Parker Lucas, told the judge that the crash had changed his client and that he would continue living with it.
“He has dealt with the mental trials and tribulations of this incident and has been traumatized,” Lucas said.
Lucas noted that Haskell had taken responsibility for the crash and asked that he be sentenced to probation and allowed to return to his family in Las Vegas — his wife and four children, ages 4 to 21. He said Haskell, now 53, is no longer driving a truck and is supporting his family with military benefits.
Haskell then spoke haltingly about his 12 years on the road supporting his family, his otherwise good driving record and his faith in God as a born again Christian. He spoke of “other variables” that led to the crash but did not elaborate.
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“I’m not a bad person. I’m not a criminal,” he said between sniffles. “I’m just a human being that follows the lord.”
He asked Brown to think about his wife and kids.
“They don’t deserve to suffer also. As broken as I am, I’m the sole provider for my family,” he said. “So whatever happens to me today and tomorrow, it also happens to my family.”
Prosecutor John Clark handed the judge a copy of a report from the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigated the crash. The NTSB said a Chevy Tahoe driven by William Carroll Tucker of Hephzibah, Georgia, was going just 7 mph when Haskell’s Freightliner hit it from behind, killing Tucker and his wife, Elizabeth.
Haskell then hit the Toyota RAV-4, driven by Edward Davis, killing him, his wife and sister-in-law. Haskell then hit two other tractor-trailers, pushing one off the right side of the road. His own truck was on fire when it came to a stop and burned completely.
Haskell and the two other truck drivers had minor injuries.
The NTSB report notes that Haskell had received a text message less than a minute before the crash but that it’s not clear whether he was reading it at the time. It also notes there was a second prepaid cellphone in the truck but that it was destroyed in the fire, and no records could determine if Haskell was using it.
Haskell, who refused to speak with NTSB investigators, says the second phone belonged to his employer and he wasn’t using it that day, according to Lucas. He also told Lucas that he was “not inattentive due to his cellphone.”
Instead, Lucas said, Haskell believes the single sign he encountered warning of the work zone was “inadequate.” According to the NTSB report, an electronic sign that alternated messages “Left Lane Closed” and “Merge Right.” was placed about 2 miles from the start of the lane closure, about a quarter mile from the crash site.
NCDOT work zone rules now require that another electronic sign be installed about four miles before the first, with the alternating messages “Roadwork 6 Miles Ahead” and “Left Lane Closed.” But the NTSB concluded that the one sign Haskell passed should have alerted him to “changing conditions ahead,” which included brake lights on the vehicles in front of him.
After hearing from Lucas and Haskell, Judge Brown immediately turned back to Bell, the only family member in the courtroom. Brown acknowledged that nothing he did Friday would make up for their loss before announcing the maximum sentence.
“I’m limited by what the law lets me do, and I know those limits may be hard for you to reconcile,” he said. “I’ll be praying for y’all.”
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