Colorado trucker sentenced in Kansas crash that killed 5

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) - A truck driver from Colorado was sentenced Friday to five years in jail for causing a crash that killed five people when his semi-trailer truck plowed into three cars on a Kansas interstate.

Kenny Ford, 59, of Greeley, Colorado, pleaded no contest in January to five counts of vehicular homicide, a misdemeanor in Kansas. He will serve his sentence in the Leavenworth County Jail. Each count carried a maximum sentence of one year in jail.

Prosecutors said Ford did not slow down for stalled traffic on Interstate 70 near Bonner Springs on July 11, 2017. The crash killed three people from Kansas and two from Illinois.

Ford did not explain why he didn't stop in time, but authorities said he was not impaired by drugs or alcohol, The Kansas City Star reported.

Ford's attorney had argued for a one-year sentence but Leavenworth County District Court Judge Gerald Kuckelman said public safety and the impact of the crash on the victims' families had to be considered in Ford's sentencing.

The victims were Teresa Butler, 61, of Urbana, Illinois and Karen Lynn Kennedy, 63, of New Palestine, Illinois; Sheldon Cohen, 83, and his wife, Virginia, 79. of Topeka; and Richard Mireles, 38, of Topeka.