Trucker Charged in 3 Deaths : Freeway Crash Results in Manslaughter Counts

A truck driver was charged Tuesday with three counts of vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of three people who died when he rear-ended their car on the Santa Ana Freeway last April.

Ten others were injured as the truck careened into other cars.

The Orange County district attorney’s office announced the filing of criminal charges against Jackie Wayne Dillard, 55, of Fresno, who was ordered Tuesday to appear for arraignment on Sept. 2 in Central Orange County Municipal Court.

If convicted, Dillard could face up to five years in state prison, Assistant Dist. Atty. Maurice L. Evans said.

Randolph K. Driggs, Dillard’s Santa Ana attorney, said his client had agreed to appear at the Sept. 2 arraignment and would plead not guilty.

According to the California Highway Patrol, Dillard was driving a semitrailer refrigerator truck south at about 55 m.p.h. on the Santa Ana Freeway on April 23 when he approached slow-moving traffic near the Garden Grove Freeway.

Dillard’s truck hit a car in a southbound lane, then veered into the northbound lanes, eventually careening off another 10 vehicles. The three who died were Bartolo Lozano, 66, of Fremont; his brother, Antonio Lozano, 69, of Tijuana, and Antonio Lozano’s wife, Maria, 59.

The CHP initially arrested Dillard on suspicion of felony drunk driving and manslaughter after the accident. But toxicological tests later showed that Dillard was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and he was released from jail pending further investigation.

Evans said Tuesday that his office had conducted the investigation in conjunction with the CHP “because of the serious nature of the case.”

Evans also said a motorist’s testimony of having observed Dillard driving erratically on the freeway before the accident “led us to the decision to file felony charges.”

“We will deny any allegations and ask that the case be set for a preliminary hearing,” Driggs said.

The defense attorney said the Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Dillard’s license after the Orange County accident. Eight months before the fatal accident, Dillard was cited by the CHP for driving at an unsafe speed in Madera.

In that incident, which occurred on Aug. 16, 1987, Dillard ran his two-trailer truck into the back of a car which had slowed down in front of him. Dillard was slightly injured in the 1987 accident while the other driver was unharmed, a CHP spokesman said.