PHOENIX – A truck driver who used TikTok while causing a fatal crash in Chandler last year has been sentenced to 22.5 years in prison, authorities announced Monday.
Danny Glen Tiner, 38, was sentenced last week to five consecutive terms of 4.5 years each after pleading guilty in June to five counts of involuntary manslaughter, court records show. He had been given credit for 415 days served when his sentence began Friday.
According to prosecutors, GPS data showed Tiner’s tractor-trailer traveling at 68 miles per hour through a 55-mile per hour construction zone before a six-vehicle pileup occurred on Interstate 10 near Chandler Boulevard on January 12, 2024.
In addition, digital forensic data showed that Tiner was actively using TikTok on his cell phone at the time of the fatal accident in Chandler.
What happened on the day of the fatal accident in Chandler?
According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, five people were killed in the early morning accident after they were trapped in two burning cars.
Police said Tiner’s semi-trailer crashed into traffic that was backed up by a previous accident.
After the fatal accident in Chandler, which also involved the transport of hazardous materials, Phoenix Fire Department personnel worked for two hours to extinguish the fire.
The remains of the vehicles were so badly damaged by the fire that police initially assumed that only three or four vehicles remained.
I-10 was closed for nearly eleven hours for cleanup and investigation.
“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 news release Monday. “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.”
