The Verdict Is In……. 110 Years Concurrent Life Sentences

So many thoughts on this one. First off, when my mom taught me to drive on logging roads at 9 years old (she was tired of getting out to open cattle gates lol), she told me that if you ever lose your brakes to drive into the ditch or the mountain side. It'll stop you. It may kill you, but you won't take out anyone else, and you stand a better chance of surviving than if you drive off the mountain (logging roads, remember). I'd still take the mountain or the runaway truck ramp. I am assuming that he thought he could get it under control. That was his judgement error. Given the choice of hitting a parked truck or careening into a 4-wheeler traffic jam, I'd hit the truck. Lives might still have been lost, but a lesser chance and a less destruction, hopefully. Honestly, I don't believe that his lack of English skills had anything to do with it. I drive in Mexico all the time and my Spanish is lacking when you get away from simple greetings, food, alcohol, bathrooms, etc. I'd still know that if I lost my brakes to hit the mountain. Most likely he was scared of wrecking the truck and losing his job, or being that he is young, of dying. Death is less of a deterrent the older you get.

My main issue with the whole thing is the lack of fairness in sentencing times. There are many people who have killed/injured more people who were sentenced to less time. One crazy case in Vegas comes to mind. A 20-year-old dancer (exotic, aka stripper for the uninformed lol) took ecstasy and smoked pot a couple hours prior to driving. She fell asleep at the wheel and killed 6 teenagers cleaning trash in the median (they were a work program from our youth authority). She could have been sentenced to `120 years but got something like 48. A few years ago, she pled guilty to lesser charges and got out after 18 years. I think 110 is too long for this guy. But that's just my opinion. I felt in the Jessica Williams case (the one I mentioned above) and in this case that ruining yet another life (the drivers in both cases) and spending taxpayer dollars to keep them in prison for life is not the best move. IMHO, let them do a lot of time so the loved ones of the deceased get their pound of flesh and in this guy's case, deport him.

Well said, m'lady. He DOES deserve 'some' time .. but the HIRING COMPANY DESERVES MORE!

When he comes BACK from Cuba . . . perhaps he'll be better edumacated! (SP? on porpoise.) Not funny but. Yeah.

I remember the 'stripper' too. . . She's OUT, ya know.

Thanks, gal. Miss ya.

~ Anne ~

Anne, my grandmother only spoke Italian. She wasn’t a citizen and never learned English. My grandfather spoke enough English to get by and worked for the railroad. My grandmother was stuck in the house every day unless someone could go with her to translate, so I understand what you’re saying. Everyone else in the family learned English. If I ever went to Italy I’d like to learn more than curses in Italian. I think hearing more that in this case this bad driver was using language as another excuse. I don’t see how it played a part in this instance.

Anne, my grandmother only spoke Italian. She wasn’t a citizen and never learned English. My grandfather spoke enough English to get by and worked for the railroad. My grandmother was stuck in the house every day unless someone could go with her to translate, so I understand what you’re saying. Everyone else in the family learned English. If I ever went to Italy I’d like to learn more than curses in Italian. I think hearing more that in this case this bad driver was using language as another excuse. I don’t see how it played a part in this instance.

Well spoken, Rob. My Aunt Ida (God bless her soul) had a farm Upstate NY, near Brett, near Rome, NY... I 'hated' going there as a kiddo, because it was ALL ITALIAN! (Tho, lest . . . I learned.) I still remember the fuzzy wallpaper I picked at, a 6 y/o girl, haha! NoBODY spoke English there. Nor, did they care to. I don't even KNOW if they were legal, tbh. Food was perfetto, and I was bellisimo !! (I thought my NAME was Bella, haha!)

I 'DO' believe, in fact & form, that this 'young lad' IS using a language barrier AS partial excuse . . . yes, I do. I just wonder how & why he could be HIRED with such a 'barrier,' per se?????? Somebody handed him the keys. THAT is the culprit, imho.

The FMCSA that was quoted above states 'sufficiently.' Who decides???? Am I 'sufficient' in Spanish because I know the alphabet, and conjugating verbs? (Yo, tien, tiennen, tiennenes?) Feminine and masculine? << Drove me NUTS! ( here i am, lol.) I can order a beer & ask for a restroom in Miami. Is that 'sufficient?' Sure, for vacation!

This case makes my brain hurt. I've got a kid his age in FL, and I've been in & around trucking ALL my life. I can pre trip a tractor better than a new kid, but.. what does that make me? Still UNTRAINED. Yet, I KNOW THE LANGUAGE of the USA. How did he pass THAT part?

Mountain Matt made a manual ?!? (Just kidding; tho not funny.)

That's SO cool about your fam, Rob. . . the 'elders' in 'mi familia' never CARED to learn Engles, either. That was then... yet I gleaned enough to learn, and cared to learn more. Guess this young lad didn't. Brett's got some Italian heritage, too. It's in his early posts!

Still.

Thanks for 'getting' what I'm 'putting down.' Passionate, about language barriers, I am. Just sad that a young bloke lost 'his life' along with the deceased. RIP, to all.

~ Anne ~

ps: Anybody hear this, while reading this thread??? My Own Prison

ESL classes have been around since I was in high school in the mid 70's.....Hell my hometown now is mostly being bought up by Koreans etc .....They have been buying up cities forever...

Yeah guy deserves a long prison sentence for ignorance....BUT the DMV's across the country have the damn study booklets in every language not much help.....

My buddy n his 9 siblings all speak great English (Hispanics) I speak Spanish after working for years with Mexican guys that spoke little English. Am not fluent like a native, but I do pretty good, and have made Mexicans jaws drop. Especially, back before 2000, when I had a 3+ foot blonde pony tail haha....

Our judicial system just sucks a LOT .....Murderers n career criminals, who even do stuff pre planned don't normally get that of a harsh sentence.

Sucks to be him, but it is, what it is.....

Anne, I know you are passionate about this but what exactly are you advocating for? Are you want all Americans to learn Spanish or the the Spanish speakers to learn English? I'm all for non English speakers that live here and work here being mandatory ESL classes to learn the language most spoken in this country. If you’re advocating for the rest of us to have to learn Spanish then I can't agree. You learn the primary language of the country you live in. Legal or illegal, if you live here, learn English. I can't wrap my head around those that came to America decades ago and still don't speak a word of English. I am all for American citizens learning other languages and understand how beneficial it is to know multiple languages but how do you work in a country if you cannot speak, read, write or understand the vast majority of its people? A few months ago I had a load going to California, in either New Mexico or Arizona I went to a Walmart and asked a young lady, in a Walmart uniform smock, that was stocking shelves where the dog food was. She looked at me blankly and said no. I asked again and got the same look. An older Hispanic lady shopping says to me that she doesn't speak English. I turned back to her and said woof woof then made an eating motion, again, nothing. Finally me and the older woman figured it out. She herself spoke no Spanish since she hadn't spoke it since she was a small child but that was OK since she lives in America and her English was good.

I've seen people in Arkansas version of the DMV renewing their license by using their 6 year old as a translator. Although it may not be written exactly what being proficient in a language means, at the very least you should be able to read, write and speak enough to be able to read and understand road signs prior to giving them a license to drive a truck. How did he pass a written exam at the DMV without a translator present?

As far as the 110 year sentence, he did what he did because he didn't speak or read English and he is stupid. The company that hired him and the government workers that gave him a license should have to share that sentence, just my opinion as they are all equally responsible for him having been in that truck.

As far as the 110 year sentence, he did what he did because he didn't speak or read English and he is stupid. The company that hired him and the government workers that gave him a license should have to share that sentence, just my opinion as they are all equally responsible for him having been in that truck.

This, Mikey. Exactly this. He's shouldering ALL the blame. I'd LOVE to see his 'defunct' company AND the Gov't SHOULDER something.

Guess I get long winded in passion, but . . . More/Less, THIS. ^^^^.

Thanks, again.

~ Anne ~

ps: Again, if the US hires foreigners, why can't they make 'ESL' a standard/certificate for a CDL , if nothing else????

ESL classes have been around since I was in high school in the mid 70's.....Hell my hometown now is mostly being bought up by Koreans etc .....They have been buying up cities forever...

Yeah guy deserves a long prison sentence for ignorance....BUT the DMV's across the country have the damn study booklets in every language not much help.....

My buddy n his 9 siblings all speak great English (Hispanics) I speak Spanish after working for years with Mexican guys that spoke little English. Am not fluent like a native, but I do pretty good, and have made Mexicans jaws drop. Especially, back before 2000, when I had a 3+ foot blonde pony tail haha....

Our judicial system just sucks a LOT .....Murderers n career criminals, who even do stuff pre planned don't normally get that of a harsh sentence.

Sucks to be him, but it is, what it is.....

I'm not AT ALL advocating WE learn HIS language; heck....I know enough to know ....NOTHING. ie: in 4 years, I can order a beer and find a restroom. Maybe more, maybe not. Too many dialects.

What IS sufficient? As Aubrey posted, in the FMCSA guidelines? I just feel that THIS GUY was 'failed' in many ways. Our country, his company. Nope, we DON'T need to know Spanish (it helps in some areas, agreed.) I'd never HAVE understood that guy myself, with a few years of classes.

ie: HOW can one MONTH of Ingles, equip this lad with ENGLISH? ESL certifiCATION. Just like the 160 etc, that becomes more of a mandate 2/22 for a CDL. That's all.

That's my beef.

Thanks guys.

G'nite,

~ anne ~

What happens when a driver has to use the runaway truck ramp? Video from I-70 west bound below Eisenhower tunnel taken the day after the fatal accident.

9 News video of I-70 runaway truck ramp

It's already hard enough to land a trucking job. If employers risk criminal charges on behalf of their employees, us noobs will never get hired. It is also hard to pass at the DMV - at least it is for me. It's probable that standards vary across the country, however. I'm not sure what language had to do with this guy killing people, however. He failed to go down a runaway truck ramp that went downhill. I might decide against using such a ramp myself. It looks like a suicide ramp. He didn't fail to go down it because he couldn't read English. He made a fast judgment, and it ended up being the wrong one.

But, ... his 3rd time on that route... does NOT a seaoned driver make, IMHO.

Mon Dieu! From my earlier post in the thread:

He had run the route twice before. Doesn't make him an expert at mountain driving, but he should have know there was an emergency exit on his route.

We're not talking about an easily ignored sun-bleached, moss covered piece of tin with 5 or more bullet holes in it like many of the road signs in my neck of the woods. We're talking about well maintained, BRIGHT YELLOW signs with FLASHING LIGHTS. My point being that his claim that he, "didn't see" the last two signs (but did see the first two signs BEFORE he lost his brakes) doesn't hold water. I'd say since he needed a translator to make the claim about not seeing the signs that's a tell that the problem wasn't not seeing the signs. Heck, I'd pay attention to a bright yellow sign with flashing lights just to make sure I didn't get into the wrong lane and deported to California or an unwanted gender reassignment surgery.

As a PNW native and Canadian I am shocked and saddened!