Mother, Daughter Killed in Long Island Tractor Trailer Crash

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Posted on 9th April 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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A mother and daughter were killed when a tractor trailer ran a red light and crashed into their car Wednesday in Long Island, N.Y. http://www.newyorkinjurynews.com/2010/04/09/long-island-automobile-accident-tractor-trailer-crash-kills-mother-and-child_201004093137.html

The accident took place during rush hour, at around 6 p.m., at Central Park Avenue and Hicksville Road in Bethpage, N.Y.

The truck ran a red light and hit a Pontiac that was turning left on to Hicksville Road. The unidentified mother and her daughter, 11, were taken out of the vehicle after emergency crews but through its roof.

The two victims were taken to the hospital, but later died.

At least three other vehicles were involved in the crash.

The trucker was given a breathalyzer, but the results weren’t known.

The tractor trailer is owned by C-F-M Food Distributors of Watertown, N.Y.

No charges have been filed yet.

Tuesday Was Death Day in Indiana, With Eight Killed in Car Crashes

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Posted on 27th February 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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Tuesday was a fatal day in northern Indiana, with vehicular accidents killing eight people.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20100224/News01/100229672/1130&Template;=printpicart

In one of the crashes in South Bend, a Cadillac traveling east in on Indiana 2, turning left on Quince Road, was hit by a semi-truck. There was a family in the car. A male passenger in the front seat died at the scene. The driver, with severe injuries, and three children were sent to Memorial Hospital.

The truck driver was taken to the hospital for testing.

In a second accident Tuesday, three people lost their lives when a Chevy Cobalt driving on U.S. 36 crossed a median and flew into the air, hitting a GMC Envoy in LaPorte County.

The driver of the Cobalt, 72-year-old Billy Gene Hamblin of Kingsford Heights, Ind., and a passenger in the Envoy, 38-year-old Amy Klein of Columbia City, Ind., died instantly. The driver of the Envoy, 63-year-old Lloyd Klein of Columbia City, died at Memorial Hospital. Another passenger from the Envoy, Kathy Klein, was in critical condition.

In the third fatal crash, two students from West Noble High School died in unrelated accidents on U.S. 33 in Noble County, Ind. Amanda Musser, 18, was driving on U.S. 33 when she went off the highway and hit a pole. Musser, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, was dead at the scene.

Then 18-year-old Brandon Replogle was driving on U.S. 33 when he was hit by a truck. He was killed in the crash.

Finally, two people died in an accident on Interstate 65 when a SUV struck a semi-truck between Lowell and Roselawn. The SUV’s passengers were killed instantly. The semi’s driver, 54-year-old John Taylor of Greenwood, Ind., wasn’t injured.

Arizona Woman Killed When Crash Turns Her Car Into A Fireball

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Posted on 2nd February 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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A Phoenix mother was killed Sunday morning in a crash on I-10 when a truck hit her disabled car, turning it into a fireball and trapping her, according to several published reports.
http://www.justicenewsflash.com/2010/02/02/fatal-crash-i10-left-woman-dead-blazing-vehicle-fire_201002023205.html

Olga Sanchez Torres, 44, was pronounced dead at the scene. Torres’ car broke down and stopped in the westbound lane of I-10 near 35th Street.

A truck hit her vehicle from behind, and the car exploded in flames. Although witnesses tried to open the doors of Torres’ burning vehicle, they could not get the woman out the car. She remained trapped inside as the car went totally into flames.

Authorities were conducting an investigation of the fatal accident.

Torres’ children told a local TV station that their mother was dedicated to the family, and that the 44-year-old wanted to go back to school to become a nurse.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/phoenixmetro/central/story/Family-of-Phoenix-woman-killed-in-I-10-wreck/50XBjjgGsU6gwIiRRgh82Q.cspx

Porn plus Fatigue plus Truck Equals Murder

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Posted on 1st February 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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Sometimes the total reckless stupidity of those who drive big rig trucks is beyond belief. This story pushes the limits of sanity.

It’s a no-brainer that people shouldn’t drink and drive. Yet fatigue and/or distraction in the line of a driver’s sight are even more dangerous. Combine the two behind the wheel of a truck and the combination is lethal.

In a tragic accident, truck driver Thomas Wallace of Brook Park, Ohio, was watching pornographic movies on his laptop last week while driving on the New York State Thruway in Buffalo, N.Y., according to the Associated Press. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/27/AR2010012704463.html

Julie Stratton, 33, a mother of two from Snyder, N.Y., had hit a deer on the highway and her vehicle was disabled. She had called 911 for help right before Wallace hit her car with his rig. Stratton was killed.

Wallace, 45, was charged with second-degree manslaughter in Stratton’s death. He also allegedly broke federal trucking regulations by sleeping no more than four of 27 hours before the fatal accident, according to AP. Porn to keep him awake? See http://semi-accident.com for regulations on sleep requirements for truckers. Those law are there to protect the public safety. It is almost credible that Wallace did something so catastrophically stupid because he was so fatigued. No excuse, but a lesson to be learned by all. That the mother he killed wasn’t where he expected her to be is precisely why we have such laws. It is not the normal reaction time which is changed by fatigue, but the situation reaction, the reaction to that which isn’t expected.

Don’t waste time on the lesser included offenses. This is murder. Simply charge him with that.