Inattentive trucker Danny Tiner receives 22.5 years in prison for accident with five deaths
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The Republic
A truck driver who killed five people in Chandler when he caused a crash while distracted by watching TikTok videos has been sentenced to more than two decades in prison after pleading guilty.
Danny Tiner, 38, was sentenced to 22 ⅟₂ years in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of involuntary manslaughter, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Tiner was arrested in June 2023 for a January 12 crash of that year involving six vehicles in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 10 near Chandler Boulevard.
Before the collision on Chandler Boulevard, officers were busy extinguishing a fire on a semi-trailer truck that caused Wild Horse Pass Boulevard to be closed. As Bart Graves, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, told the Arizona Republic at the time, this may have led to a “secondary accident with minor injuries” on Elliot Road and was ultimately the cause of the accident on Chandler Boulevard.
Tiner was arrested on June 29, 2023, after being finally found guilty following a lengthy investigation.
According to DPS, Tiner said he received a message on his work electronic tablet and went to look at it. When he looked up again, traffic had come to a standstill, but he was unable to stop in time to avoid a collision.
During the investigation, officers found that Tiner had been driving at 68 miles per hour in a construction zone where the speed limit was 55 miles per hour while “actively using the TikTok application on his cellphone at the time of the collision.”
Tiner was jailed on $300,000 bail and initially faced several charges, including five counts of manslaughter, four counts of endangerment and one count of tampering with evidence.
According to court documents, Tiner pleaded guilty to five counts of involuntary manslaughter. He will serve 4 ⅟₂ years in prison for each count, for a total of 22 ⅟₂ years. He will receive credit for 415 days of time already served in prison.
“As a driver, you have a duty to pay attention to the road. Choosing to access social media while driving and risking the lives of others is reckless,” Maricopa County District Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a statement. “Five families are experiencing the pain of losing a loved one. While the legal system can never ease that pain, it can hold those responsible accountable. We have achieved that goal.”
