A truck driver who struck and killed a worker at a Wise County rock-crushing facility has been sentenced to seven years in prison. The sentencing of 30-year-old Jose Alberto Gutierrez Olivas follows a favorable settlement of civil litigation that Boyd Powers Williamson lawyers handled on behalf of the family of the victim.

Mr. Guitierrez-Olivas received the prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of failure to stop and render aid stemming from the August 2021 incident at the Bridgeport Stone – Martin Marietta Materials plant near Bridgeport.

According to investigation reports, Mr. Guiterrez-Olivas was driving an 18-wheeler at the site and struck and killed 62-year-old Reyes Lovington. He later told investigators that he did not stop even after others at the facility informed him that he had struck someone and after he saw people gathered around a body on the ground.

Boyd Powers Williamson lawyers represented Mr. Lovington’s family in wrongful death litigation filed against the driver, the transportation company he was working for and other parties. The case is Wendy Ammons, Individually and As Representative of the Estate of Reyes Lovington, Jr., vs. Jose Alberto Guiterrez-Olivas; Rivas Transport, LLC; Rivas Transportation, LLC; and Usbakdo Rivas-Mijares, CV21-09-615, in Wise County district court.

“This was a preventable tragedy that took the life of a hard-working man who was known and loved by so many,” said trial lawyer Alan Powers. “The driver of the truck is now in prison for failing to stop and render aid. Our trial team is proud to have represented his family in the civil action in which those responsible for employing him took responsibility.”