Life sentence for truck driver who lost his airbrakes

[FL420]

I think this is a terrible injustice for a young man whose poor understanding of how to drive in the mountains or unsafe equipment provided by his employer resulted in a fiery crash killing four people and injuring more.
https://share.newsbreak.com/8zmcomhs
I have followed this case closely in the news. Without access to the trial testimony but as a CDL holder for 16 years and 45 years experience in aviation and ground transportation safety and training I am fairly comfortable coming to the conclusion this guy should not have had numerous criminal charges piled on him. I believe the "accident" was a result of poor training and inadequate experience making him incapable of successfully dealing with a situation he may not have created.
There is a lesson here for all of us who pull trailers or drive motorhomes regardless of where but especially in the mountains. Get good training, practice it and use it before going out on the road where your lack of training or experience can put other's lives at risk.
There are way too many people in this world who think they are professionals in certain fields who lack the very most important requirement to actually be a professional and that is a "professional attitude." They may have years of training and years of experience but you can identify them when they say things like "I have always done it this way and nothing bad has happened yet" or they ignore safety rules and regulations usually because they feel incovenienced by them. $afety should never be written with a dollar sign and with a little research I could document that just about any safety rule or regulation is "written in someones' blood."
I feel quite deeply this young man's life is being effectively ruined because of a tragic crash that his employer is primarily responsible for probably due to inadequate hiring, training and equipment maintenance procedures. This case should more properly belong in a civil court rather than a criminal court where public opinion has resulted in the piling on of charges by prosecutors and the legislature has enacted mandatory minimum sentences probably dooming this young man to die in prison.
Just MHO.
[Moderator Edit]
[emoji40][emoji382][emoji382]... [emoji382][emoji40]

[Ljwt330]

[QUOTE=FL420;6019023]I think this is a terrible injustice for a young man whose poor understanding of how to drive in the mountains or unsafe equipment provided by his employer resulted in a fiery crash killing four people and injuring more.
https://share.newsbreak.com/8zmcomhs
I have followed this case closely in the news. Without access to the trial testimony but as a CDL holder for 16 years and 45 years experience in aviation and ground transportation safety and training I am fairly comfortable coming to the conclusion this guy should not have had numerous criminal charges piled on him. I believe the "accident" was a result of poor training and inadequate experience making him incapable of successfully dealing with a situation he may not have created.
There is a lesson here for all of us who pull trailers or drive motorhomes regardless of where but especially in the mountains. Get good training, practice it and use it before going out on the road where your lack of training or experience can put other's lives at risk.
There are way too many people in this world who think they are professionals in certain fields who lack the very most important requirement to actually be a professional and that is a "professional attitude." They may have years of training and years of experience but you can identify them when they say things like "I have always done it this way and nothing bad has happened yet" or they ignore safety rules and regulations usually because they feel incovenienced by them. $afety should never be written with a dollar sign and with a little research I could document that just about any safety rule or regulation is "written in someones' blood."
I feel quite deeply this young man's life is being effectively ruined because of a tragic crash that his employer is primarily responsible for probably due to inadequate hiring, training and equipment maintenance procedures. This case should more properly belong in a civil court rather than a criminal court where public opinion has resulted in the piling on of charges by prosecutors and the legislature has enacted mandatory minimum sentences probably dooming this young man to die in prison.
Just MHO
[ moderator edit]


Please understand that I am not questioning your sincerity, and on first blush a tremendous injustice appears to have been committed.


I will only state that no facts or testimony from the trial, in defense of the driver, have been reported in your post or in the links. The defense of the driver was based on faulty air brakes, but we do not know to what degree that played a part in the accident or what the jury heard regarding that issue. All we know is the jury found him guilty on 27 counts based on what they heard and understood. There is likely no doubt his employer carries a high degree of fault as you point out, but the issues you raised about their responsibility are not crimes identified in the criminal statutes.


It is also not clear that the 110 year sentence is the result of reporting it as a consecutive sentence. The judge indicated he would issue a concurrent sentence if he was able. It makes a much more dramatic story to report the consecutive sentences and this may be the case. It was not clear from where the 110 year length came.


If the trial evidence supports the position you report, then I would certainly agree an injustice was done that needs to be corrected. I suspect those behind the petition have supporting evidence and documents to warrant a reconsideration and will submit them to the governor.

[Old-Biscuit]

110 years is a bit extreme.......
Guilty of 27 counts ----Vehicular homicide: 4 counts

60 years would seem more appropriate sentence

[Backcountry1]

Without knowing all the facts I can not make an informed verdict on whether it was warranted for a 110 year sentence. I believe the mandatory sentencing is the 100% reason for the sentence, and not because the judge felt like that was the appropriate sentence, even if the jury found him guilty on all counts.

Poor understanding, training, and panic during losing his brakes led to the accident. Unfortunately poor understanding of tractor-trailer driving in areas like this was on him, and the lack of mountain driving training was partly his fault and partly fault of his company. But…. in the eyes of the law he was the “competent”, “qualified”, and “licensed” person and he should have known how to handle the situation.

[Keith55]

I am curious if there were any issues on the defendant's side warranting such a sentence such as drugs or alcohol, lack of sleep or if he was outside of legal working hours per day???

[FL420]

Originally Posted by Keith55

I am curious if there were any issues on the defendant's side warranting such a sentence such as drugs or alcohol, lack of sleep or if he was outside of legal working hours per day???

Read the links. They will lead you to news stories with more information. I have learned through personal and professional experience over many years not to rush to any judgement based on media coverage but I do use media information as leads to where to look and what to look for to gain credible information before jumping to conclusions about causes of mishaps, especially in cases of trying to place responsibility for aircraft or vehicle mishaps.
A long time ago I wondered why Naval aircraft don't have accidents. Unless things have changed since I left the Navy any significant damage to a moving Navy aircraft from a crunch to a smoking hole in the ground is referred to as a "mishap" not an accident. As I understand it that terminology stems from the concept of an "accident chain." IOW, all "accidents" are not accidents but mishaps resulting from a breakdown in a "chain" of events resulting from someone, or multiple people or even an organization who failed to perform or poorly performed an important function for which they were responsible.
The young man is 23 now but only 21 when the mishap occurred. That's the only thing I have confidence is accurate as reported by the media. I wish the pertinent officals would post online the evidence contained in investigators' reports and evidence presented to the jury. I would certainly read it just like I read the report posted online by the Law Enforcement Official in the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, MO in 2014. It cleared up a lot of misinformation presented by the media and believed by the general public and prevented Officer Darren Wilson from being indicted on criminal charges.
[emoji40][emoji382][emoji382]... [emoji382][emoji40][emoji106]

[twinboat]

I followed a link and it seems that the semi driver was speeding past slow traffic whiIe driving on the shoulder.

There is a U Tube video of him going by.

[TonyMac]

He passed several runaway truck ramps? The brakes are gone; they're not coming back.

[FL420]

I just came across a couple of YT videos by a very experienced F-14 Tomcat RIO in which he analyzes and does a great job of explaining how the flat spin in the movie TOPGUN resulting in Goose's death was a realistic scenario.
https://youtu.be/LwS1k8LKxJg
The second video analyzes and explains how Kara Hultgreen's compressor stall and the way she handled it on approach to the carrier led to her death. I don't think you have to be a pilot to understand the important information in either video.
The comments after both videos but especially the second one shed a lot of information on the man(or woman) machine interface and how difficult it may be for even highly trained operators to effectively handle unexpected malfunctions in the machines they are operating at critical times with limited options.
https://youtu.be/rFUXshaaMQM
Check them out and see if you can make any connections to the problems the young truck driver faced when his brakes failed on a busy highway in a long steep downgrade in the mountains.
[emoji40][emoji382][emoji382]... [emoji382][emoji40][emoji106]

[NXR]

Originally Posted by FL420

The comments after both videos but especially the second one shed a lot of information on the man(or woman) machine interface and how difficult it is may be for even highly trained operators to effectively handle unexpected malfunctions in the machines they are operating at critical times with limited options.

As the old saying goes, an aviation accident occurs when the pilot runs out of altitude, airspeed, and ideas at the same time. :(

Ray

[laj]

If you were in aviation for 45-46 yrs. then you know the PIC is liable, and responsible for all aspects of the flight including, but not limited the maint. logs of that aircraft having all AD’s complied with.

The same applies to the holder of a CDL, including condition of the truck, and trailer. He is also responsible for having the proper training/ experience to operate the truck safely in all conditions he places it in.

The people that had their lifes snuffed out are permanently sentenced

Don’t know the real facts, just what was reported. .

[HenryH001]

Let’s not forget the news is a business and most news is usually boring unless it’s sensationalized.

In another forum about putting LEDs in Halogen fixtures a lot of people thought it was okay. But what would happen if you were hit head on by a drunk driver. You might be found guilty because you blinded the drunk. Do you think the news would hi-light that fact?

Without reading the full transcript of the trial I would not make any conclusion.

[D Gardiner]

Feel sorry for the young semi driver, and the four dead (one a 24 year old) that will never see their families again.

The below is a very informative read.

https://www.3newsnow.com/news/nation...re-than-80-mph

[D Gardiner]

History about the sign, for the run-away truck ramp, from Colorado Public Radio.

https://www.cpr.org/2019/04/30/cdot-...ic-i-70-crash/