Weeks after an 18-wheeler crash killed his loved ones, a grandfather is focused on his granddaughter’s recovery and a push to shut down the trucking company.
DALLAS — In one instant, Anthony Epperson lost his daughter, son-in-law and grandson.
On June 28, an 18-wheeler slammed into their vehicle in Terrell.
“You’re talking about an 80,000-pound truck running into them at a standstill,” Epperson said. “That’s a freight train.”
The crash killed his son-in-law, Zabar McKellar; his daughter, Krishaun; his 16-year-old grandson, Kason; and Zabar’s father, Billy. A fifth person, Nicole Gregory, died in another car.
Evan, the McKellars’ daughter, lost her foot and has endured more surgeries than her grandfather can recall. Epperson said she does not remember the accident.
On the day of the crash, the family was returning to Fort Worth from Tyler, where they’d attended a memorial service. Epperson was at work when he saw the wreck on the news.
“I never thought it was my daughter and her family,” Epperson said.
It took two days for him to learn the truth. His other daughter called.
“My daughter … told me, ‘Daddy, are you sitting down?’” he said.
She told him they had died in the crash. He didn’t believe it.
Watch the full 30-minute interview with Anthony Epperson below:
“The blessing part of it was that they died all at the same time,” he said.
He says he’s met with two bystanders who comforted Evan immediately afterward.
“She was asking for water,” he said. “They were actually calming her down. I thank God placed them … at that traumatic incident.”
The truck driver, Alexis Osmani Gonzalez-Companioni, told investigators he fell asleep at the wheel. Federal records show he received seven violations for hours-of-service violations following the crash.
Gonzalez-Companioni was hauling a U.S. Postal Service load that originated at a distribution center outside Atlanta and was about 800 miles into the trip. Postal Service rules require at least two drivers for trips over 500 miles. He was the only driver.
“I’m a truck driver. I would never do that,” said Epperson, who has been driving 18-wheelers for 27 years. “I try to go by the book.”
But he says the rules exist for a reason — to protect everyone on the road.
The driver worked for Hope Trans LLC, a company former drivers told WFAA repeatedly falsified shipping records and backdated bills of lading to skirt federal rest rules. They said dispatchers pressured them to drive far beyond legal limits.
Epperson said there’s no excuse.
“If I’m tired, I’m going to pull over,” he said. “As a driver, we go by rules when you run out of your hours of driving.”
A grand jury indicted the driver on manslaughter and aggravated assault charges. A Hope Trans company official was also indicted — accused of forgery for falsifying the truck’s registration document, known as a “cab card.”
Despite the crash, federal regulators have not shut the company down.
WFAA obtained inspection records through Bluewire, which collects crash and inspection data, showing that as recently as Aug. 6, one of the company’s trucks was stopped in Utah and cited for eight equipment violations.
Records show its insurance is set to be canceled Oct. 8 — which would ground it.
Epperson says accountability should reach beyond the driver.
“They need to be shut down,” Epperson said of Hope Trans. “They need to be held accountable for what they did to our family and the other lady that passed.”
He also wants answers from the Postal Service.
“The post office should … monitor their deliveries and I think the post office should be held accountable too,” Epperson said.
Epperson also wants people to know about his family. Krishaun — “Krissy” to her family — was his eldest of his three children, and worked for an insurance company. He called her “Essie Mae” because she reminded him of his mother, he said.
“Krissy was the most fun-loving girl that I ever could have had,” he said. “I just never expected her life to end like that.”
At their wake, he saw a video of Zabar performing a Christian rap song with Evan and Kason, a family moment now frozen in time.
Zabar, Epperson says, was considering becoming a preacher and the entire family was very involved in their church.
Evan’s parents were paying for her college because “they didn’t want her to have any debt,” Epperson said.
Kason played football at Crowley High School. Epperson had seen him shortly before the crash — they’d eaten crab legs together.
“He kept asking me, ‘Papa, can I get more? Papa, can I take this home,’” Epperson said, laughing. “Kason was a fun-loving young man.”
Epperson told WFAA when people ask how he’s doing, he doesn’t know what to say.
“You can’t put a word on how you’re really doing because this is different every day,” Epperson said. “Some days. it’s anger. Some days, it’s frustration. Some days, it’s why.”
Since the accident, Evan has had multiple surgeries — on her face, mouth, arm, and left side. She faces another surgery on her leg on Friday.
For now, his focus is on Evan’s recovery — and on ensuring her lifetime medical needs are covered.
“She has good intentions on going back to college,” Epperson said. “Evan really is motivated to finish her journey.”