The man allegedly behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer that sparked a multi-vehicle crash near Macon Tuesday and killed three people had been driving for an Ohio-based trucking company for a month, officials said Friday.
Gerard Thompson, 49, of Palmetto, was under contract to drive for TRX Trucking as an owner-operator, TRX President David Ferrante said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“We send our deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in this crash,” Ferrante said.
Thompson was arrested and charged with three counts of vehicular homicide after the fiery crash on Interstate 16, the Bibb County Sheriff's Office said.
The crash killed two people who were part of a group from Greater New Friendship Baptist Church in Dublin: 84-year-old Robert Ray of Vidalia, a church deacon, and 81-year-old Marjorie Jones, Bibb County officials said.
They were in separate vehicles at the time of the crash; Jones was riding in the church’s van.
The church held a vigil for Ray and Jones Thursday evening, according to a Facebook post from the church.
A third victim, who was driving a pickup truck, was later identified as Charles Terrell Lindsey of Macon, The Telegraph in Macon reported.
Like every one of TRX’s drivers, Thompson underwent a “stringent pre-employment screening program that investigates his or her entire driving history and work experience,” Ferrante said.
TRX, Inc., which is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, operates about 54 vehicles and employs 54 drivers, according to federal transportation records.
Not including Tuesday’s crash, TRX has had three crashes in Georgia in the past two years, one of which resulted in one injury, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
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