BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. – District Attorney Mike Ramsey announced the driver of a Camp Fire dump truck was sentenced in court on two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter resulting from a 2019 four-car crash that killed two and seriously injured four others.
Ramsey said on June 21, 2019, the driver of a 2002 Volvo dump truck, Thomas Fairhurst, 59, of Antioch, crashed into the rear of a Chevy Aveo that was stopped at the traffic light at Neal Road on Highway 99, south of Chico. No evidence was found of Fairhurst attempting to break the 26,000 lb. truck before impact.
The initial impact pushed the Chevy into a Toyota Sienna minivan that was also stopped at the light. The Toyota was pushed into the rear of a semi-truck stopped in front of it. Ramsey said the Chevy and Toyota both sustained significant damage.
The passengers of the Chevy, husband and wife Donald Shippen, 53, and Apryl Shippen, 56, were pronounced dead at the scene, while their son, the driver of the Chevy, sustained significant injuries, Ramsey said.
Three passengers in the Toyota sustained significant injuries and were transported to the hospital. Both Fairhurst and the driver of the semi-truck were uninjured.
Man pleads guilty in deadly 2019 Highway 99 crash
A California Highway Patrol (CHP) investigation, in conjunction with Ramsey’s office, determined Fairhurst was working long days and was engaged in “late-night partying activities” while working long shifts in Paradise in the days leading up to the crash. The investigation determined Fairhurst did not get enough sleep to operate his truck up to commercial vehicle safety requirements and, as a result, fell asleep as he drove into the Neal Road intersection.
Fairhurst pled guilty on Feb. 15, 2023, to two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter, yet he did not show up for his sentencing on April 20, 2023. A warrant was issued for his arrest, and Ramsey filed an additional charge for failure to appear at the sentencing.
Ramsey said Fairhurst was sentenced to both counts of manslaughter and the failure to appear charge. He faces ten years in state prison.
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