Death By Out Of Control Dump Truck Results in Driver Being Found Guilty of Criminally Negligent Homicide
The Court of Appeals of Texas of the First District of Houston issued an opinion on February 18, 2010 in its finding the driver of a dump truck employed by the City of Houston guilty of criminally negligent homicide. The Court found that the driver used a deadly weapon, namely a motor vehicle, during the commission of this tragic offense.
The facts indicate that on the morning of October 24, 2006, the driver of the truck, a laborer employed by the City of Houston, was traveling in a city dump truck when it sped recklessly into another vehicle. As it approached an intersection controlled by a red light, other vehicles were properly stopped and at a standstill. The dump truck collided with a Jeep which went airborne with all of its four wheels leaving the pavement thereafter striking a traffic pole and landing on its driver’s side. After striking the Jeep, the dump truck continued across the intersection towards a group of workers who were installing new traffic signals and tragically the dump truck ran over one of the employee’s installing the traffic signals, killing him. The truck also struck another worker who sustained multiple fractures including two broken legs. Many witnesses to this accident stated that the truck was driving too fast to either stop for the light or was in the wrong lane to make a proper turn. The 31,000 lb. dump truck involved in this case weighed 8 times that of the Jeep that it hit.
Commercial trucking accidents seem to be on an increase and are a serious problem throughout the United States, rising to an almost epidemic level. According to statistics, a commercial truck accident takes place almost 4 times per hour in the United States, often resulting in catastrophic personal injuries and death for the people involved. The recklessness and criminal negligence on the part of the truck driver in this case reveals the substantial and unjustifiable risk which commercial truck drivers pose but apparently are not aware. The guilty conviction of criminal negligence requires a significantly greater degree of deviation from the standard of ordinary care as is the case with civil negligence. The standard of deviation must be “gross” or “extreme” and measured solely by the degree of negligence. As an experienced Philadelphia truck accident lawyer who has handled some of the most tragic cases involving catastrophic injury or wrongful death, I am curious as to what the driver of this vehicle must have been thinking and whether proper background checks were done upon his hire or throughout his employment.
Recently, I have been involved with several cases where the background of the drivers was lacking and probative of investigation and recently noted a Pennsylvania a case involving a school bus driver who had an unrecorded and unnoticed prior fatality on his record when another tragic fatal accident occurred.
If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury or wrongful death as a result of a truck accident or bus accident, please feel free to contact one of our experienced Philadelphia trucking accident lawyers for a free no obligation consultation at 1-800-421-9595.
