Big rig truck driver sentenced in roadside death

A 35-year-old man whose big rig truck went onto the shoulder of Interstate 80 near Newcastle and killed a man has been sentenced to 60 days in the Placer County jail.Lakhwinder Sidhu of Ontario, Canada, received the sentence Aug. 6 from Placer County Superior Court Judge John Cosgrove, who also placed the defendant on three years of informal probation.Sidhu, who pleaded no contest on May 28 to a misdemeanor charge of manslaughter without gross negligence, was ordered to report to the jail on Aug. 27 to begin serving his incarceration.Prosecutor Matt Block of the Placer County District Attorney's Office said Sidhu was driving east on I-80 near the Newcastle exit on April 11, 2008, when he looked at his side mirror to make a pass on the left.However, as Sidhu was busy looking to the left, his truck approached a curve in the road and continued onto the shoulder, where a tow truck was parked and where its driver, Miguel Ramos, 42, of Bakersfield, was standing.Ramos had pulled off the road because of trouble with his truck, Block said. The big rig smashed into the truck, killing Ramos, he said.As part of his sentence, Sidhu was ordered to pay $7,500 to the California State Victims Compensation Program and another $740 in fines and fees, Block said.~ Staff report