CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A semi-truck driver is charged with vehicular manslaughter after his truck struck and killed a West Virginia Turnpike worker in Kanawha County.
State police troopers allege Anvar Sabirov, 28, of Rego Park, NY, failed to get in the correct lane in a I-77/Turnpike work zone south of Charleston Monday morning at around 11 a.m..
Investigators said he swerved to miss a dump truck and then the back of his truck struck the Turnpike worker James Harper, 23, of Beckley, who was patching a hole in the highway.
A criminal complaint said video shows Sabirov had his head down as his truck was entering the work zone. He told troopers he was not on his phone.
The investigating trooper, Cpl. R. Phillips, wrote in the criminal complaint, “this officer believes that defendant was distracted while driving through the active work zone, looed up, sees the large dump truck with asphalt, swerves left to avoid striking the truck but struck the victim with his trailer.”
MORE Read criminal complaint here
Troopers seized Savirov’s cell phone as part of the investigation.
Sabirov was initially held in the South Central Regional Jail.