On Wednesday, August 17th, a truck driver was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his involvement in a crash that occurred two years earlier.
Back in September 2014, 37-year-old truck driver Shannon Ford was unable to stop in time and crashed into a school bus that was stopped to drop off students. Shannon, his wife Sherry, and 7 children from the bus were injured.
According to police reports, troopers discovered that Ford’s wife was naked inside the truck at the time of the collision.
Shannon later pleaded ‘no contest’ to four counts of reckless driving with serious bodily injury.
At the sentencing, the judge heard from both Ford’s wife and his mother.
Sherry Ford told the court that her nudity was an accident. She claimed that she had removed her clothes due to the heat and that the impact of the crash “ripped off her underwear.” She mentioned that her husband “wished he was killed that day, so the kids could have no injuries.”
Ford’s mother pleaded, “We ask you all please to forgive him, because he did not get up and decide he was going to hit a school bus.”
The Fords added that the trucking company, Florida-based Mo’s Trucking, was partly at fault, because the truck wasn’t properly maintained. A trooper testified to the mechanical problems of the rig, stating that eight of truck’s brakes were defective.
Ford was sentenced to 5 years in prison for each count, totaling 20 years to be served consecutively. He was given credit for 500 days already served.