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Truck driver involved in fatal crash has history of truck-driving infractions

Posted at 8:55 PM, Jun 18, 2012
and last updated 2012-06-18 23:59:29-04

The family of Crystal Burgsteiner is saying goodbye to the young mother.

She was killed last week when an out-of-control tractor-trailer crashed into her disabled car on the side of the interstate.

We're finding out more about the truck driver and his history of truck-driving infractions that go back a decade.

The woman in a green car was a mother of two, and according to family members, pregnant. Crystal Burgsteiner's obituary says she had six sisters and two brothers, most are still in Hampton Roads.

Police say the truck driver who crashed into her disabled car was Christopher L. Johnson, of Richmond.

The crash in Chesapeake isn't the only time he's faced traffic charges here.

In Portsmouth in 2003, he was charged with driving a tractor trailer on a suspended license, and then for contempt of court. He was later found guilty of driving without a license. That's one of more than a dozen traffic convictions NewsChannel 3 uncovered in his court files.

State police say he suffered some sort of a medical condition causing him to run off the interstate in Chesapeake, smashing into Burgsteiner's broken-down car. The force of the collision shoved Burgsteiner's car off the road and nearly into the trees. She died, but police say the truck driver had only minor injuries. But police, citing the driver's privacy, would not say what kind of medical problem he suffered.

The company that owns the truck involved in the crash has, according to federal records, been involved in at least four fatal crashes in the past two years.

But no one from Vitran's national office or the regional office returned messages.