INDIANAPOLIS — A Marion County judge sentenced a semi-truck driver to three years in prison for causing a July 2024 crash that killed a 9-year-old boy.
Eamon Goodrich, 9, of New Albany died on July 25, 2024, on I-465 near Old 31 on the south side of Indianapolis.
Semi-truck driver Dieuson Leron was convicted Friday of Reckless Homicide and two counts of Criminal Recklessness.
He was speeding in a construction zone, 62 mph in a 45 mph zone, following too closely, and he was supposed to have a co-driver, but did not.
As WRTV Investigates reported, Leron departed from a USPS processing and distribution center in Sioux Falls, SD at 4 a.m. ET on July 25, and his load was due to be delivered in Cincinnati at 10:45 p.m. ET.
Records show Leron violated the Hours-of-Service rules, which are meant to keep tired drivers off the road.
Specifically, the report shows the driver was supposed to stop for a break before his eleventh hour of driving but instead “continued to drive for another 23 minutes.”
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Leron declined to comment on his way into court, but once inside the courtroom, Leron apologized to Eamon’s parents, Natalie and Chris.
“I want to express my deepest sorrow and apologies,” said Leron. “It it's something I will carry with me the rest of my life. I take full responsibility for my actions and my role in this tragedy.”
Leron went on to tell the Goodrichs that he is “deeply sorry” and accepts responsibility for his actions.
“It became obvious that there was a lot of genuine remorse there,” said Chris Goodrich. “I think that helped both my wife and I process this. We feel like this piece of the puzzle is completed.”
In an emotional moment, Leron cried and asked the Goodrichs for their forgiveness.
“When we both heard him give his statement, we both felt impacted by it,” said Chris Goodrich. “It meant a lot to us that he was not only accepting accountability, but we could see him in tears as he gave that, and that meant a lot to us, that there was, there was visible remorse.”
Prosecutors showed pictures of Eamon in court—a life cut way too short.
“I don’t think you’re a bad person,” Judge Jeffrey Marchal said to Leron before handing down a three-year prison sentence.
His driver’s license will also be suspended for 4 years.
Leron is a lawful permanent resident of the United States, but he could be deported to his home country of Haiti as a result of the conviction.
The Goodrichs still have a pending wrongful death lawsuit against Leron and the company he worked for.
They want companies and drivers to follow the rules of the road.
“We just need to make sure that this can't happen to families in the future,” said Goodrich.
Leron was immediately placed in handcuffs following the hearing. Leron told the court he never wants to drive a semi-truck ever again.
According to Indiana State Police, Leron worked for Forward A2B Inc.
WRTV Investigates checked federal records and found the company is currently listed as “Out of Service.”
Following the crash, WRTV Investigates checked Forward A2B Inc’s safety record on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website.
Forward A2B Inc was cited 26 times in the two years before the crash for unsafe driving—violations like inattentive driving, speeding and reckless driving.
“These directly point to the safety culture of this company,” said James Lewis, a transportation safety expert witness with a company called Evidence Solutions. “I would say it’s very unsafe, unsatisfactory.”
Lewis is not involved in the investigation of the I-465 crash. WRTV Investigates asked him to review the company’s safety record.
WRTV Investigates checked Forward A2B Inc’s safety record on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website and found the company had 14 Hours of Service violations in the two years leading up to the crash.
“To have that many is an astronomical number,” said Lewis.
Examples of Hours of Service violations for Forward A2B Inc include:
- Operating a Commercial Motor Vehicle while ill or fatigued.
- False report of driver's record of duty status.
- No driver's record of duty status.
WRTV Investigates called and emailed Forward A2B Inc, and the person who answered told us a manager would call us back, but we have not heard anything.
