Truck driver sentenced in Union County

Alvin Wilkerson

LAKE BUTLER, FL - The truck driver that plowed into a car and school bus in Union County two years ago causing the death of seven children was sentenced today. Alvin Wilkerson, of  Jacksonville, plead no contest to seven counts of vehicular homicide and 10 counts of culpable negligence causing injury.

The tragic crash happened on January 25, 2006 on State Road 121 four miles south of Lake Butler. The car filled with children sat waiting for an unloading Union County school bus when the tractor trailer driven by Wilkerson crashed into the car sending it into the back of the bus.

The car caught fire and all seven children inside died. Nikki Mann, 15; Elizabeth Mann, 15; Johnny Mann, 13; Heaven Mann, 3; Anthony Lamb, 20 months; Ashley Keen, 13; and Miranda 

Investigators comb through the twisted remains of the accident.

Finn, 8, were killed. Several of the children on the bus and the bus driver were injured.

Circuit Judge Maurice Giunta heard victim-impact statements and then Wilkerson, 33, was sentenced to seven years in prison in a plea agreement between prosecutors and his attorney.

Prosecutors said Wilkerson had driven a tractor-trailer for 34 hours with only a brief nap before the crash. There was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in the crash.