A Nevada, Missouri man has been charged in Macon County with felony first-degree involuntary manslaughter after an accident in February in which one person died. Bond for 58-year-old Robert Edmond Ives has been set at $40,000 cash only.
Ives is accused of recklessly driving his semi-truck into a tractor on Highway 36 west of Callao and causing the death of the tractor driver. The Highway Patrol previously reported that 62-year-old Nels Magnuson of Callao was pronounced dead at the scene. Ives was taken to Samaritan Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
Video footage showed the brake lights of the big rig never illuminated, and Ives did not attempt to change lanes to avoid impact with the tractor after he crested a hill. The video also indicated the semi traveled at 68 miles per hour and increased to 71 miles per hour directly before impact.
Another tractor-trailer driver provided a statement that when Ives’s truck passed him, he looked and reportedly saw Ives sitting with his back against the driver’s door and all the air out of the seat. Ives was allegedly nearly facing him as he went by, and the other driver said Ives had his phone positioned by his knees.
