A FedEx truck driver accused of killing a former Long Island track star and his two children in a crash allegedly looked at his phone 25 times and was “periodically tapping and swiping” before causing the fatal wreck.
Santos Valentin, 30, collided with a Honda Civic carrying Donnell Hickson, 43, his son Decir, 18, and his 11-year-old daughter Kyla on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on July 20, 2024, while driving in his FedEx tractor-trailer, WKBN reported.
Investigators said that the sheer force of the crash caused both vehicles to be pushed off the road and that the delivery truck landed on top of the car.
Hickson, who was a Baldwin resident, and his two children were pronounced dead at the scene. Valentin was taken to the hospital but survived.
Valentin turned himself into police on Thursday after he was charged with three felony counts of homicide by a vehicle after prosecutors alleged he was using his phone around the time of the collisions, according to court records filed on Feb. 12.
The delivery driver — who was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the wreck — told police that the Hickson’s Civic “came out of nowhere” when they collided, and he was driving at a speed of around 65 to 75 mph.
However, dash camera footage inside the FedEx truck paints a different picture.
Prosecutors say the footage shows Valentin “using his cellphone for an extended period of time well before the crash,” and he had done so about 48 seconds before the fatal collision.
“Valentin looks down or glances at his phone a total of 25 times. In that same 48 seconds, Valentin looks up or glances at the road a total of 20 times” and was observed “periodically tapping and swiping the screen,” according to Newsday.
Seconds before the crash, the Honda was heading east in the left lane but changed over to the right lane in front of the FedEx truck and stopped.
Investigators have yet to determine why the Honda abruptly stopped.
Valentin posted his bail set at $300,000 by Magisterial District Judge Joseph Stauffer after being held in the Lancaster County Prison on Thursday.
A preliminary hearing has not yet been scheduled.
A crowdfunding page to support Hickson’s wife and Kyla’s mother, Keisha, and his mother, Martinique, says the “amazing” father of two “was always that person to light up any room her entered with his great personality.”
Hickson also was an All-American and all-state triple jumper at York College in Jamaica, Queens, and competed at the 2005 NCAA Championships.
His son, Decir, was gearing up to enter college a few weeks before he was killed in the wreck.
His 11-year-old daughter was described as “very creative with dreams of creating her own cartoon show one day.”
“Donnell, Decir, and Kyla were beloved members of our community,” the page organizers, Frances Crooks and Lakeisha Barron-Williams, wrote. “Their loss is felt deeply by all who knew them.”
