Madison County mother pushes ‘Tristan’s Law’ after son’s deadly crash

BEREA, Ky. (FOX 56) — After losing her son, Tristan, in a deadly crash in Madison County this summer, Lindsey Brown said she doesn’t want any other family to go through what hers has. “We’re not just doing this because we’re grieving, right? But so many other people also see a gap in Kentucky’s law, and they support what we are doing,” Brown said. Now, she’s pushing for “Tristan’s Law,” a bill aimed at making Kentucky roads safer and holding commercial drivers accountable when distracted driving turns deadly. “Right now, the penalties are essentially misdemeanor level, which does not reflect the loss of a life, especially with a commercial motor vehicle that holds a CDL, and it is their duty to get places and to do their job safely and not be distracted by whatever they’re doing,” said Gabrielle Hughes, Tristan’s aunt. Tristan was killed when a tractor-trailer hit the car he was in. Under current Kentucky law, there is no clear statute addressing cases where a commercial driver’s distraction leads to serious injury or death. Existing laws largely focus on impairment, traffic violations, or regulatory compliance. “Tristan’s law will help close that gap for families in the future or just let CDL drivers know like, ‘Hey, you are going to be held to a higher standard, and maybe they will think twice before they get behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound truck and decide to make a stupid decision that could cost someone their life,” Brown said. In this case, the truck driver was never charged. Tristan’s Law would change that by creating a higher-level felony when distraction is proven, along with stronger penalties and the possibility of a commercial driver’s license suspension or permanent revocation. “The goal is to have criteria that need to be met so officers have the arrest authority to arrest on site instead of waiting for proof to be gathered, which can take years to happen,” Hughes said. The bill is sponsored by Senator Jared Carpenter and is now being formally drafted ahead of a committee presentation this legislative session.