2 INJURED AFTER CRASH SENDS TRUCK, CAR OFF I-95 IN FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA

MAY 12, 2015

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA

Two people were trapped in the wreckage after a crash that sent a car and truck off Interstate 95 in Fort Lauderdale early Tuesday morning.

The crash occurred in the northbound lanes of I-95 near Broward Boulevard.

A Florida Highway Patrol spokesman said the truck and car collided and then fell off the highway.

Fire-rescue crews freed the victims from the wreckage.

Both victims were taken to a hospital. Their conditions were not immediately known.

Northbound traffic was backed up for miles after the crash.

VEHICULAR HOMICIDE CASE: CEMENT TRUCK INVOLVED IN FATAL CRASH SHOULD HAVE BEEN PARKED. HOWEVER, THE TRUCKING COMPANY SAYS THAT THE VICTIM WAS REPAIRING THE TRAILER IN THE ROAD AND NO CONES WERE PUT UP TO ALERT DRIVERS OF THE REPAIRS.

MAY 12, 2015

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV)

The attorney for the driver of a cement truck charged criminally in the crash that killed a father of two said the records don't tell the whole truth.

The daily inspection sheets obtained by the Channel 4 I-Team raised more questions about why the truck was allowed on the road the morning of the crash.

The 911 calls revealed the panic in witnesses and coworkers of Sergio Lopez after a Nashville Ready Mix truck failed to stop on Cheatham Dam Road and rushed toward them as they attempted to fix a broken trailer.

“I need the rescue. I need the ambulance. I need everything down here on Cheatham County Road. It's bad,” one witness told dispatchers during a 911 call.

Lopez was killed in the accident.

A Channel 4 I-Team investigation has uncovered internal inspection records showing how for months prior to the crash, the driver, Robert Ashabrunner, had documented daily problems with the truck.

However, Ashabrunner's attorney said that doesn't mean the truck was dangerous.

“He got in the truck and drove it,” said attorney Ed Yarborough. “Now, if a man has any thought that that truck is dangerous, does he get in that truck and drive it every day? I don't think so.”

The Channel 4 I-Team began investigating the company after obtaining the deposition of Donald Meadows, a co-founder of Nashville Ready Mix, who said the company knew for weeks of existing problems with the truck's braking system.

“They've known it for three weeks,” Meadows said in the deposition. “They run that truck with busted air bags.”

The inspection records of the truck showed not weeks, but eight months of documented problems.

An inspection record from September 2012 said “Need brakes – Can't Stop.”

Day after day “Need new brakes – can't stop on a hill,” was entered on the reports.

The truck was still driven daily, sometimes more than 100 miles a day.

For almost seven months, it was documented that it leaked air real bad.

Remember what the co-founder said?

“They run that truck with busted air bags,” Meadows said in the deposition.

A Nashville Ready Mix mechanic said in an interview with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, also obtained by the Channel 4 I-Team. “We got air brakes. That's part of the brake system. If you've got an air leak, it doesn't leave the company.”

The mechanic later told the THP that the truck should have never left.

Why did the truck leave? The mechanic said drivers share inspection reports with the plant manager, but that “No one ever got hold of him” to tell him about the air leaks.

The mechanic named Carlton Moseley as the plant manager who dispatched the truck.

“We plead not guilty. We expect to be found not guilty,” said Mark Olson, Moseley's attorney.

Moseley, Ashabrunner and Nashville Ready Mix are charged with vehicular homicide in the case.

“He was the man driving this truck. If there was something wrong with those brakes, doesn't he have a sense of responsibility for what happened with the accident?,” Channel 4 I-Team chief investigator Jeremy Finley asked Yarborough.

“There are two or three assumptions in the question, and I would say yes to your question, but there are assumptions there that are probably not the truth,” said Yarborough.

Ashabrunner's attorney said when Lopez and his crew were repairing the trailer that morning they were in the road and no cones were put up to alert drivers of the repairs.

Yarborough said even if the brakes were fully functioning, nothing could have stopped that crash.

HUSBAND, WIFE KILLED IN HEAD-ON BOAT COLLISION ON CHOWAN RIVER, NORTH CAROLINA

MAY 10, 2015

GATES COUNTY, NC (WVEC)

Officers with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) said two boats essentially collided head-on Saturday, killing a husband and wife.

Lieutenant Mark Rich told 13News Now Sunday that 42-year-old Douglas Martin and his wife, 35-year-old Angela Martin, died after a 17-foot bass boat and their 16-foot bass boat hit each other.

The larger boat ran over the top of the Martins' boat.

The Martins were from Sedley, Virginia, which is in Southampton County.

Rich said two men were in the other boat.

He explained that emergency dispatchers in Southampton County got a call about the collision around 2 p.m. Saturday. Crews from Southampton went out to the river where it intersects the Nottoway and Blackwater Rivers. Once they realized it was on the North Carolina side of the state line, they contacted Gates County.

Rich told 13News Now it took hours for NCWRC to reach the boats and to get them back to shore. Crews removed them from the water. Officers will be putting the boats back together as part of their investigation.

The North Carolina State Medical Examiner's Office will perform autopsies to determine how the Martins died.

POLICE AND COAST GUARD ARE CARRYING OUT SEPARATE INVESTIGATIONS FOLLOWING FATAL SAGINAW RIVER BOAT CRASH IN MICHIGAN

MAY 12, 2015

SAGINAW, MI

Police and Coast Guard investigators are carrying out separate investigations after a man was killed during a boating accident on the Saginaw River.

David Brigham, 25, and Robert A. Todd, 53, both of Vassar, were knocked into or jumped into the Saginaw River the morning of Friday, May 8, when the boat they were on had engine trouble and was struck by a tugboat pushing a barge near the Saginaw-Bay county line, police have said.

Zilwaukee firefighters rescued Brigham right after the emergency call and police located Todd's body on Monday, May 11, in the river near Bay City's James Clements Airport. 

The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed its investigative services division is looking into the cause of the crash. 

"I can't tell you any of the specifics," Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Lauren Laughlin said when asked about the probe. "The cause is under investigation." 

She said she could not answer questions or confirm what Saginaw County Sheriff William Federspiel said, that Coast Guard investigators are looking into whether or not a lookout was required on the barge and other maritime law questions to help the sheriff's department. 

The Coast Guard's online information says one rule of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) is about lookouts:

"Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision," the rule states, according to the Coast Guard. 

Coast Guard officials did not confirm whether or not the rule could apply to the crash or other regulations they may be considering. 

The Coast Guard is also looking into the aspect of shipping procedures and whether or not the tugboat was in the proper channel, Federspiel said, "which we believe he was."

Federspiel said investigators believe the tugboat and barge did not have a lookout, though there were others on board besides the captain. 

"It may be legitimate that they don't need a lookout on that vessel," the sheriff said. "The Coast Guard is going to confirm if they followed procedures and did everything properly."

Federspiel said his detectives are looking at the case from all angles, which is standard for a death with one or no witnesses.

The department will attempt to find evidence to corroborate the account given by the survivor, the sheriff said. The department is also waiting for results of an autopsy being done on Todd's body. 

Federspiel said the tugboat was operated by Cheboygan-based Morrish-Wallace Construction and the captain told investigators he did not know the crash happened.

Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) is not investigating the death because "...the fatality victim was not an employee, and because there was no employer/employee relationship, MIOSHA does not have jurisdiction over the incident," MIOSHA Spokeswoman Tanya Baker said. 

Asked about MIOSHA jurisdiction of incidents on the water, Baker said MIOSHA does not have jurisdiction over incidents occurring on navigable water, except for when public employees are engaged in maritime work, such as port authorities, cities or counties. 

Other federal agencies have jurisdiction over other workplace related deaths on the water, she said. For example, specific activities related to maritime shipbuilding, shipbreaking, ship repairing and long shoring remain within the exclusive jurisdiction of federal OSHA. 

When there is no employer/employee relationship, the U.S. Coast Guard has responsibility to safeguard the lives and safety of citizens in maritime situations, Baker said. 

Source: www.mlive.com