Truck driver pleads guilty in causing fatal pileup in Salem

An Illinois truck driver pleaded guilty Tuesday to causing a fatal multi-vehicle crash that killed another driver this year in Salem Township.

Cruz Humberto Guzman-Nieves, 27, pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault and several summary traffic citations.

Westmoreland County Judge Richard E. McCormick Jr. sentenced him to serve one year less a day to two years less a day in the county jail. Guzman-Nieves has been jailed since July.

Police accused Guzman-Nieves of running a red light in his tractor-trailer June 14 at Route 22 and Mark Drive, causing an eight-vehicle pileup. Albert Tomasino, 67, of Jeannette died from injuries he suffered when Guzman-Nieves' truck slammed into a pickup Tomasino was driving, pinning it against a concrete lamppost base.

Chicago company Ego Express Inc. owned the truck and requested a subsequent civil lawsuit filed by Tomasino's family be moved from county court to U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh. A federal judge in October sent the case back to Westmoreland County.

Guzman-Nieves said in a court filing that he accepted the plea bargain in the criminal case because it was in his best interest. McCormick ruled that he can serve a year of probation after his release from jail in his hometown of Streamwood, Ill. The Puerto Rico native has no ties to Western Pennsylvania, prosecutors previously said.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.