Truck Driver Gets Probation for Deadly Missouri Crash

A tractor-trailer driver who told authorities, “God told me to do it” after causing a deadly southwestern Missouri crash has been sentenced to five years of probation.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that 35-year-old Adam Housley of Mountain Grove was sentenced Wednesday. He pleaded guilty in February to two counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Housley was initially charged with second-degree murder after the January 2017 crash on U.S. 60 in Seymour that killed 48-year-old Tisha Briggs and her 47-year-old fiance, Leo Walker.

But Webster County Prosecutor Ben Berkstresser told the victims’ relatives that he lacked evidence to support the murder charges because Housley’s truck didn’t have a collision avoidance system.

Charging documents say Housley was looking at his cellphone and didn’t try to stop before rear-ending the victims’ stopped vehicle.