HILLSBORO IL April 24 2013 — A Macoupin County grand jury has indicted a Georgia truck driver on a charge of reckless homicide in the death of an Illinois state trooper.Trooper Kyle Deatherage, 32, of St. Jacob died Nov. 26 when a tractor-trailer struck him on Interstate 55 at milepost 62 near the Raymond exit.
Johnny B. Felton Jr., 52, of Hinesville, Ga., who was driving the semi, was indicted Monday on charges of reckless homicide and operating a commercial motor vehicle without the proper license. The reckless homicide charge is a special Class 2 felony punishable by up to three to 14 years in prison.
Illinois State Police said Felton was taken into custody Tuesday in Georgia and waived extradition to Illinois, where he will be arraigned. He will be held in the Montgomery County Jail on $250,000 bond.
The U.S. Department of Transportation in November said Felton lost consciousness prior to the accident and declared him an “imminent hazard.” He was barred from commercial driving.
The department said Felton has a medical condition that should have made him ineligible for a commercial license.
Felton was working for Dot Transportation Inc. of Mount Sterling at the time of the crash and was based at Dot’s Georgia offices. Both Felton and the company are defendants in a wrongful death suit filed in January by Deatherage’s widow, Sarah.
Monday’s indictment alleges that Felton was operating a 2013 Volvo tractor-trailer in violation of the restriction of his Georgia commercial driver’s license and at a speed greater than what was reasonable and proper for existing traffic conditions.
It also says Felton failed to change lanes or reduce speed after seeing a stationary emergency vehicle with its light activated and traveled across the fog line — the solid white line at the outside edge of the highway lane — striking Deatherage, a motorcycle officer who was off his motorcycle when he was hit.
Deatherage had been a state trooper since 2009.
Source- SJ-R.com