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Trucker gets 10 years for killing 4 while scrolling through music on iPhone

TRUCKER Tomasz Kroker was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in England after killing a mother and three children when his truck rear ended their car while he was distracted scrolling through musical selection on his mobile phone.

Passing sentence High Court Judge Maura McGowan said his attention had been so poor that he "might as well have had his eyes closed" while on the A34 west of London near Newbury in Berkshire.

The court was packed with members of the victims' families and survivors of the crash, many of whom were in tears as prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson recounted what happened that day.

Tracy Houghton, 45, her sons, Ethan, 13, Josh, 11, and stepdaughter, Aimee, 11, died instantly when Kroker drove his truck into their car at 50mph. Their car was shunted underneath the back of a heavy goods vehicle and crushed to a third of its size, reported the Guardian.

The court heard that Kroker, 30, was so distracted by his phone that he barely looked at the road for almost a kilometre.

As detailed dashboard camera footage of the accident was shown, some people left the courtroom. Kroker himself was visibly upset.

The court heard that Kroker would have had an "excellent view of the road ahead" and, if he had been looking, would have seen a procession of vehicles slowing as the road rose uphill in front of him.

But instead he spent about 45 seconds looking at his phone as he scrolled through music, only occasionally glancing up and unaware that the traffic ahead had come to a stop.