Thread: PA: Officer says Illegal trucker asleep in crash

Officer: Illegal trucker asleep in Westmoreland County crash
By Rich Cholodofsky
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, August 2, 2007


Illegal immigrant Sam Thompson probably was asleep in the driver's seat of his 30-ton truck when it hit the back of a car along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in February, killing a Honduran embassy worker, according to court testimony Wednesday.
"I think he fell asleep at the wheel," said state police Trooper Richard McNamara. "He was not under control."

Thompson, 32, is charged with a misdemeanor count of vehicular homicide for causing the violent, early-morning crash Feb. 8 that killed 31-year-old Nuria Ortiz Navarro, a trade and investment promotion counselor with the Honduran embassy in Washington, D.C.

Ortiz Navarro was headed to D.C. from Wisconsin with her husband and his family when their Volkswagen Jetta was hit by Thompson's tractor-trailer on the turnpike near Arona.

Ortiz Navarro, who was in the rear passenger's seat of the car, died almost instantly from her injuries, authorities said.
Thompson, a native of Ghana who resides in Gaithersburg, Md., has been jailed since his arrest on the day of the crash.

In court yesterday, the third day of the trial, the prosecution laid out for jurors the dynamics of the fatal crash and the theory that Thompson falsified his driver's log to suggest he was sufficiently rested to meet federal requirements for commercial road travel.

But McNamara, an accident reconstruction specialist, said those logs were inaccurate and did not correlate with records from a Toledo glass company, where Thompson picked up a load to be dropped off in Allentown on the morning of Feb. 8.

Thompson's log indicated he slept for 10 hours on the afternoon of Feb. 7, but other records indicated he was dropping off a load in Toledo at that time.

McNamara said truckers are required to rest for 10-hour intervals before being allowed to drive for 11 straight hours.

"He was awake for most of that day. He didn't sleep. I think he just falsified the log to say he slept. Then he got tired and fell asleep on the road because he didn't sleep enough earlier," McNamara testified. "He probably had a delivery date that morning. If he were legal, he wouldn't have delivered that load until the next day, Feb. 9, and it would have cost him money."

Thompson's inattentiveness caused the crash, McNamara said.

Evidence from a gouge mark on the road suggested the car in which Ortiz Navarro was riding was traveling slowly near the berm in the right-hand lane when Thompson's truck crashed into it. The Jetta was hit on the driver's side by the front passenger side of the truck.

Ortiz Navarro's family members previously testified they were driving off the road into a stopping area to switch drivers when the crash occurred.

Thompson has denied any wrongdoing and has claimed the car cut him off on the roadway.

Thompson is expected to testify today when the trial reconvenes before Westmoreland County Judge Debra Pezze.

Rich Cholodofsky can be reached at rcholodofsky@tribweb.com or 724-837-0240.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune ... 20274.html

Now lets see if they detain him after he testifies. Detain him for his crimes and for deportation. This illegal needs to pay the price and be sent packing.