The Walmart truck driver who seriously injured Tracy Morgan and killed comedian Jimmy Mack McNair when he rear-ended their limo bus last June had been awake for 28 hours and driving for nearly 14, an National Transportation Safety Board investigation concluded.

Kevin Roper was going 65 mph in a 45 mph zone when he hit the vehicle carrying Morgan, Mack and others. The NTSB found his fatigue likely caused him to miss obvious signs that traffic in front of him was slowing. If he hadn’t been speeding, he would have had time to brake and prevent the fatal crash.

Walmart settled with Morgan in May for an unknown amount (“Walmart did right by me and my family,” Morgan said at the time), but Roper still faces charges of death by auto. He’s pleaded not guilty.

The truly alarming thing about the situation, according to NTSB investigators, is that Roper was nearing the end of a 14 hour shift—the maximum legally allowed—and couldn’t have made it to his destination without going over.

He didn’t have to accept the final load on his shift without sleeping, the NTSB’s Michael Fox said. And, in fact, he would have made more money by turning it down, because Walmart would have paid for his rest time.

Roper had driven 800 miles, from Georgia to Delaware, before he even started the shift. After the accident, Walmart banned drivers from traveling more than 250 miles to work, unless they get nine hours of sleep between arriving and beginning their shifts.

The report also criticized New Jersey emergency workers for taking nearly 40 minutes to get the crash victims out of the limo bus, and moving them without precautions, and Morgan and his party for failing to wear seat belts.

[Photo: AP Images]