Trucker Accused in Dutch Tourists’ Deaths to Face Trial on Manslaughter Charges

The truck driver accused of killing three Dutch tourists when he smashed into their vans on Interstate 5 in September was ordered Tuesday to face trial on felony vehicular manslaughter charges, but the district attorney’s office agreed to drop charges of gross negligence.

Neil Raymond Adams, 33, a San Jose resident, was ordered by Vista Municipal Court Judge Michael Burley to be arraigned Feb. 1 in Vista Superior Court on seven criminal counts--three counts of vehicular manslaughter, three drug-related counts after investigators found methamphetamines in his truck and evidence of the drug in his blood, and one count of driving on a suspended driver’s license.

But Deputy District Atty. Greg McClain told Burley that prosecutors would not press for the aggravating charge of gross negligence.

McClain said afterward that since Adams’ driving was not characterized by witnesses as being reckless before the Sept. 24 accident--a criteria for a finding of gross negligence--the charge was dropped rather than risk an acquittal when the case goes to trial.

“The manner of his driving was not unusual except that he didn’t stop” in time as traffic slowed in front of him for the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint at San Onofre, McClain said.

‘Have to Act Within the Law’

“Public sentiment (for a harsher prosecution) is one thing, and we’re aware of it, and the accident was a terrible thing,” McClain said after Tuesday’s preliminary hearing. “But we have to act within the parameters of the law.”

Adams’ defense lawyer, Robert Camacho, said he was pleased by the reduction in the charge, and noted that his client now faces a maximum sentence, if convicted, of four years in prison for each count of vehicular manslaughter, versus maximum 10-year terms under the more severe charge of gross negligence.

Witnesses testified Tuesday that had Adams been in the No. 4, or slow, lane designated near the checkpoint for truck traffic to exit to a California Highway Patrol weigh station, he would have had no traffic in front of him. Instead, he pulled into the No. 3 lane just as traffic was beginning to slow in front of him.

Eyewitnesses’ Account

Two eyewitnesses to the crash said Adams made no appearance of slowing down before he plowed into a Ford passenger van traveling at about 10 miles per hour and carrying Dutch tourists--members of a touring group of entertainers from The Netherlands who had spent the day at Sea World in San Diego and were heading back to their hotel in Buena Park.

At impact, that van crushed into the second van of Dutch tourists directly in front of it. Two passengers in the first van died at the scene of broken necks, and a passenger of the second van died a day later of a heart attack.

Nineteen other people were injured, some seriously, in the chain-reaction crash that involved five vehicles altogether and brought northbound traffic on I-5 to a stop for hours.

On Friday, an attorney representing 28 people, including some of the injured and the survivors of the victims, filed a $30-million civil lawsuit against Adams and the trucking company that hired him.

Mike Hilmerson testified Tuesday that he was driving a truck in the No. 4 lane and was passed by Adams as he crossed beneath the first sign warning motorists to prepare to stop for the checkpoint one mile ahead.

‘Disoriented, Screaming’

Hilmerson said he watched the impact and pulled to the side, grabbing his fire extinguisher because he saw smoke coming from the vehicles. He described the passengers as “disoriented, screaming, out of control. There was blood on their faces and they were screaming.”

He said he ran to the second van to check for fire, then approached Adams.

“I asked the guy if he was OK. He said ‘yeah’ and sighed like, what happened?”

Given Sobriety Test

Adams, who was not injured, was given a field sobriety test at the scene by a CHP officer and arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. A blood test later showed his blood alcohol content at 0.03--a suspect is legally drunk at a level of 0.10--but also revealed levels of methamphetamine in his blood.

Investigators also later found a total of 1.3 grams of methamphetamine contained in a vial and a small plastic bag in his truck cab.

McClain noted that while Adams could be sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison for each count of felony manslaughter, he faces a harsher sentence--a maximum of six years in prison--if convicted of driving and causing injuries while under the influence of drugs.

Adams remains free on $32,000 bail.