Tuesday, February 10, 2015

CEMENT TRUCK DRIVER, DISPATCHER CHARGED WITH VEHICULAR AND RECKLESS HOMICIDE IN DEADLY CRASH. THEY ALLEGEDLY KNEW THAT THE TRUCK BRAKES WERE FAULTY WHILE IN OPERATION



 

CEMENT TRUCK DRIVER, DISPATCHER CHARGED WITH VEHICULAR AND RECKLESS HOMICIDE IN DEADLY CRASH.  THEY ALLEGEDLY KNEW THAT THE TRUCK BRAKES WERE FAULTY WHILE IN OPERATION


February 10, 2015

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - 

Two employees of a cement truck company at the center of a Channel 4 I-Team investigation have been indicted on criminal charges.

The I-Team reported earlier this month that the co-founder of Nashville Ready Mix gave a deposition in a civil lawsuit, saying that employees of his own company had known for weeks that the brake system on a truck was faulty.
Two of the employees, driver Robert Ashabrunner and the dispatcher Carlton Mosely, were charged with vehicular and reckless homicide.

Police said Ashabrunner was the driver of the cement truck that hit and killed Sergio Lopez, a father of two. Mosely, who wasn't anywhere near the accident, is also charged.

The indictment reads both men killed Lopez by allowing the operation of a commercial motor vehicle without properly functioning equipment.
"If they'd gotten the brakes fixed, we wouldn't be here today," said Don Meadows, co-founder of Nashville Ready Mix.

In the recorded deposition, Meadows said, "The driver of the truck knew the airbag was busted."

Meadows also said that Mosely knew that the airbags, which control the braking system on the truck, were ruptured and sent the truck out anyway.
"They've known it for three weeks," Meadows said.

Ashabrunner's attorney told the I-Team by phone on Tuesday that Lopez had broken down in the middle of the road in the dark. The attorney said it would have been difficult for any truck, even with perfect brakes, to avoid the crash.
However, Meadows swore under oath that he believed Nashville Ready Mix was responsible for the crash.

"That's the reason I want the truth told," he said.

The I-Team reached out to Mosely's attorney, but has not heard from him yet.
Meadows said in his deposition that other staff members knew of the faulty brake system, but no one else has been indicted.