Rig driver involved in fatal accident in Terrell arrested months later in Iowa

A truck driver involved in a fiery accident in Terrell that killed three people has been arrested in Iowa.

Police in Waterloo took Jarmmal Augustine Phillips, 36, into custody in connection with last year’s fatal accident, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported.

Police there had run the former Waterloo resident’s license plate and came across the Texas manslaughter warrants, according to the newspaper.

Phillips was booked Thursday into Black Hawk County Jail and was being held without bond. He is awaiting extradition to Kaufman County.

The accident took place Aug. 21 on Interstate 20 near the Tanger Outlets Mall in Terrell. It claimed the lives of Alice Little, 49; Benjamin Welch, 77; and Linda Welch, 72; all of Cameron Parish, La.

According to an accident report obtained by inForney.com, Little was driving an F-150 eastbound on I-20 when she approached a construction zone and began to slow down.

Phillips, who was behind Little in a Volvo tractor-trailer, allegedly struck the rear of the pickup before veering over the center line. The rig then reentered the roadway and hit a tractor-trailer that was slowed or stopped in front of the pickup, causing his truck and the pickup to erupt into flames, the report said.

The three victims were pronounced dead at the scene.