Big-Rig Driver Charged in Rampage on Freeway

San Bernardino County prosecutors have filed 14 felony charges against John Alan Oden, the Alabama big-rig driver accused of deliberately swerving to smash cars on a desolate stretch of the freeway last month.

But Oden, 23, maintains his innocence. He says he’s as much a victim as the drivers who accuse him of bashing into them. In a telephone interview from his Alabama home, Oden said he remembers nothing of “the incident that made me famous in a lot of bad ways.”

Oden, who has driven a big-rig since he turned 21, said he suspects he was drugged by bandits sometime during the night of the incident. “I honestly believe I got what truck drivers call ‘robbed and rolled,’ ” he said. “They drugged me, then they robbed me.” He said he is missing his wallet and at least $700 in cash.

Prosecutors allege that Oden targeted at least eight cars on the westbound San Bernardino Freeway near Ontario in a rampage that began about 3 a.m. on Sept. 28. No one was seriously injured, but 14 alleged victims complained of neck and back pain.

Oden has been charged with driving under the influence of amphetamines, evading officers (at speeds of up to 97 mph) and multiple counts of both assault with a deadly weapon and hit-and-run.

“You talk about road rage, well, this is not even road rage here, this is more like bumper cars with a big-rig,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Sully Moore said. “There is absolutely no reason why he didn’t kill someone.”

Oden’s arraignment is set for Oct. 27 in Rancho Cucamonga. He plans to plead not guilty.

Oden said the last thing he remembers about the evening in question is pulling into a parking spot for a catnap in Indio. He had ingested nothing stronger, he said, than a regular dose of Advil, which he washed down with a liter of soda. Next thing he knew, it was hours later, and he had just slammed his big-rig into a guardrail near Monte Vista Avenue.

“I want to know what happened to me just as bad as anyone else does,” he said.

If convicted on all counts, Oden could be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison. Because the charges are deemed “serious felonies”--involving the use of a deadly weapon--he would have to serve at least 85% of his term if convicted, Mooney said.