Driver in fatal truck crash gets 18 months

A truck driver who slammed his rig into a sedan on the Schuylkill Expressway in January 2009, killing a Fort Washington man, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in federal prison.

Valerijs Nikolaevish Belovs, 58, of Somerton, pleaded guilty in October to federal charges he had falsified his driver's logs. The Jan. 23, 2009, crash killed businessman David Schreffler and seriously injured a passenger in his car when Belov's rig, loaded with more than 75,000 pounds of broccoli, slammed into stopped traffic and pinned Schreffler's car under the truck.

More than three years later, Schreffler's family is still coping with the loss.

"I have absolutely no forgiveness for this defendant," the victim's brother Kenneth testified, looking directly at Belovs.

A veteran accident investigator with the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office testified that an examination of the rig's brakes days after the accident showed they had failed. He said it was the "worst vehicle" he had ever seen on the road "in terms of its braking capability."

"If I could only give back that day, I would," Belovs had told U.S. District Judge James Knoll Gardner.

Federal law mandates that commercial truck drivers are on the road no more than 11 hours a day without resting for at least 10 hours and that they must certify that their logs are accurate. Federal prosecutors said Belovs had exceeded the limit of his maximum driving hours.

Previously, Belovs pleaded guilty to state vehicular homicide charges in Montgomery County and was sentenced in April 2010 from three to 23 months in jail plus five years' probation.

Contact Michael Hinkelman at 215-854-2656 or hinkelm@phillynews.com or follow on Twitter @MHinkelman.