A trucker was streaming Netflix when his tractor-trailer struck a car, killing a retired couple in Maine, according to a police report.
The truck driver acknowledged streaming a Netflix show on his cellphone, but said he was only listening through the truck’s audio system before the crash that killed Geoff and Elizabeth “Betsy” Gattis, of Falmouth.
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“He wasn’t watching Netflix. He was listening to audio,” defense attorney Robert Andrews said Thursday.
"The truck driver was not distracted by Netflix, but by a vehicle directly in front of him that abruptly slowed and exited the Maine Turnpike in January 2021 near the Kittery-York town line," Andrews said. "The trucker then saw other vehicles had slowed, but it was too late to stop", he said
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The Portland Press Herald first reported the driver was streaming a Netflix show about teenage magicians.
The driver’s story has been consistent from the time of the crash, when he spoke to a state trooper. He said that the screen of his phone was turned away to avoid being a distraction, the newspaper said.
The truck driver was indicted on a manslaughter charge last summer. Andrews said he’s going to file a motion to dismiss the charges.