Truck driver arrested 2 hours after hit-and-run on snowy road
SALEM, Ore. – Police arrested a Beaverton truck driver who they said injured two people in a hit-and-run crash in the Santiam Pass area Monday night.
Alvin James Ellis, 59, was arrested over two hours after the crash near Salem.
Police said Ellis was driving a commercial truck pulling a semi-trailer without required chains on Highway 20 near Santiam Pass when his truck slid sideways on the snow-covered road and crashed into a Ford Focus with two people inside at around 9:20 p.m.
A witness told police that the truck noticeably shook on impact.
Ellis then drove away from the scene, police said. They found crash debris on the highway.
Two people who were inside the Ford Focus were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
A state police trooper spotted the truck and stopped it on Highway 22 near Salem at around midnight, police said.
Ellis was arrested and taken to the Marion County Jail. He faces charges of reckless driving and misdemeanor failure to perform duties of a driver involved in an injury crash.
He'll get probation and lose his job. Then we will get to pay for his "rehabilitation" and retraining. After we're done paying for that he will struggle to find anyone willing to trust him enough to give him a job. So we'll pay for his "extended" benefits for awhile. Eventually he'll have to settle for a state job. But at least there he won't have to worry about losing his job for poor performance. Sad but most likely true.
I'd say his C.D.L. is going to be in jeopardy so he'd better get a warehouse job because his driving days might be over. You just don't leave the scene you dumb jerk I'll bet somebodys gonna sue the pants off you .
I'll wager he's wishing he had of put those chains on now...
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He is very lucky that no one was killed, very lucky indeed.