Semi driver gets 30 days for killing Hubbard man in 2012 crash

WARREN

Robert Lucarell II said it took his family “a lot of work” to see the criminal case against North Carolina truck driver Richard A. Pacholski result in Pacholski’s being locked up Monday to serve a 30-day jail sentence.

Pacholski, 63, received the sentence for falling asleep at the wheel of his semi tractor-trailer July 5, 2012, on Interstate 80 in Girard, crossing over the median and crashing into a pickup truck coming the other way, driven by Robert Lucarell Sr., 62, of Hubbard, killing Lucarell.

At the time of the crash, Pacholski was taking seven prescription medications for congestive heart failure, allergic asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other health problems, the Highway Patrol said. He also took aspirin and used inhalers and nasal spray, he told investigators.

“And he admitted that he was tired hours before he killed my dad,” Lucarell II said. “There’s no way he should have been driving a truck.”

Read more about the case and sentence in Wednesday's Vindicator ro on Vindy.com.