County Man Gets 8 Years in 2 Deaths
A truck driver who was convicted in the deaths of two small boys in a collision on Interstate 15 was sentenced Friday in San Diego to eight years in state prison.
Sentenced was Ronald Atkinson, 41, of Garden Grove, who, according to officers, had been drinking at the time of the accident.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Donald Smith imposed the maximum sentence on Atkinson, who pleaded no contest Nov. 28 to two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
Killed in the wreck near San Diego on June 21 were Timothy Kruse, who was celebrating his second birthday that day, and his brother, Vincent, who was 9. Their mother, Debra Kruse, 31, formerly of Linda Vista but now of Barstow, was driving her car north when Atkinson’s southbound truck crossed the center divider and demolished the Kruse car. Debra Kruse was seriously injured.
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