A truck driver who Arizona prosecutors said caused a deadly accident because he was watching TikTok while driving has been sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.
Danny Glen Tiner was driving on Interstate 10 near Chandler on the morning of Jan. 12, 2023, when, officials said, he failed to stop his tractor-trailer before it ran into stopped traffic. Five people were killed, and Tiner was charged with manslaughter about six months later.
He pleaded guilty to lesser charges as part of an agreement with prosecutors.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office said Tuesday that he was sentenced to 4½ years for each count of negligent homicide, totaling 22.5 years in prison, as each sentence will be served consecutively. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of eight years.
County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said the justice system succeeded in holding Tiner accountable.
"As a driver, you have an obligation to pay attention to the road. To choose to access social media while driving, placing the lives of others on the line, is reckless," Mitchell said. "Five families are living through the pain of losing a loved one."
Online court records do not list an attorney for Tiner.
Tiner initially told authorities he was checking a message on his "electronic work tablet" at the time of the crash and did not have time to stop once he looked up from the device. But the Arizona Department of Public Safety said an FBI analysis of Tiner's phone showed he was actively using TikTok at the time of the crash.
Authorities also said he was speeding, going 68 mph in a 55 mph zone.
The victims were Ryan Gooding, Andrew Standifird, Jerardo Vazquez, Willis Thompson and Gilberto Franco.
Standifird's mother, Sarah Standifird, told NBC affiliate KPNX of Phoenix that her son was driving his co-workers Vasquez, Thompson and Franco to work. The four men worked at AAA Landscaping.
The tractor-trailer driven by Tiner rear-ended Standifird’s Ford F-250, which caused it and a Toyota Camry to be wedged underneath another semi-truck in front of the three vehicles. All four co-workers were killed, along with Gooding, who was driving the Camry.
“My son died on impact, but he burned,” Sarah Standifird told KPNX last year. “I didn’t have a proper burial. I have ashes. And I had to identify him with his dental records. That was very hard.”
Gooding's fiancée, Nikki Johnson, told KPNX that he was also on his way to work at the time of the crash. The couple were set to be married in Las Vegas after having been together for 10 years.
She told the station she began to worry when Gooding's employer reached out to say he hadn't shown up around 11 a.m., roughly five hours after the crash. Johnson failed to get hold of him, so, she said, she began calling hospitals, as well as the police.
“I just kept waiting to hear the garage door, never heard it, and that’s when the trooper showed up; his face, I could just tell it wasn’t good news,” Johnson said.