Updated

Updated · Fox News · Nov 13

Missouri Charges Trucker Eldar Skander in 3 Deaths as Illinois CDL Issuance Faces Probe

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Nov 13

Missouri Charges Trucker Eldar Skander in 3 Deaths as Illinois CDL Issuance Faces Probe

Q: With a tablet playing YouTube on the floorboard, what crucial warning signs did the truck's black box record seconds before the fatal impact?

The truck’s electronic data showed the clearest warning signs were excessive speed and a lack of braking in the final seconds before impact. According to prosecutors and the reporting tied to the crash investigation, the semi kept moving at a high rate of speed as traffic ahead slowed or stopped, and there was no evidence the driver applied the truck’s emergency brakes before hitting the Honda Odyssey. That matches what commercial truck “black box” systems typically capture: pre-crash vehicle speed, brake application, throttle position, engine activity and sometimes cruise-control status. Investigators also said preliminary reconstruction indicated that if the truck had been traveling at the speed limit, the driver would have had about 20 seconds to recognize the stopped traffic ahead. Instead, the truck’s recorded pattern suggested continued forward travel without meaningful braking before the collision. In practical terms, the black-box evidence pointed to a missed hazard response: the truck was still traveling too fast for conditions, and the expected braking input never came. The tablet found on the floorboard with YouTube open does not by itself prove distraction, but it adds context to those recorded warnings. Together, the evidence described publicly indicates that seconds before the fatal crash, the truck’s systems showed an approach at unsafe speed, no effective emergency braking, and no timely reaction to slowing traffic directly ahead.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Nov 13

Jackson County charged 39-year-old Eldar Skander with three counts of first-degree involuntary manslaughter after a Kansas City crash killed 35-year-old Olga Sorbalo and her sons, Luis, 8, and Samir, 4.
Prosecutors said Skander's Volvo semi kept moving at a high rate of speed into stopped traffic, with no evidence of emergency braking before it hit a Honda Odyssey and triggered a chain-reaction crash.
A tablet with YouTube open was found on the truck's floorboard, and six other people were hospitalized with serious injuries; Skander is being held on $150,000 bond with an ICE detainer.
ICE said Skander is a Ukrainian immigrant in the U.S. illegally, while Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Illinois issued him a non-domiciled commercial driver's license in March 2025.
Federal motor carrier regulators are now investigating both the company that hired Skander and how Illinois issued the CDL, widening the case beyond the fatal collision itself.