Cayuga County, NY — May 10, 2024, Anthony Carnevale was killed and Jeffrey Leone and Isis Binns were injured due to a truck accident at around 1:38 p.m. on State Route 5/U.S. 20.
New York State Police officials released details about the accident, which they say happened in the area of Aurelius.
According to officials, 74-year-old Anthony Carnevale was in a BMW stopped along the highway due to a work zone. While there, a tractor-trailer allegedly did not slow down in time, crashing into the stopped traffic, first hitting Carnevale’s vehicle. The chain reaction then hit a Honda Accord driven by Dale Leone and a Chevy Cruise driven by 22-year-old Isis Binns.
Due to the collision, Carnevale sustained fatal injuries. Binns and a passenger in the Honda, 62-year-old Jeffrey Leone, sustained apparently minor injuries. No other injuries were reported. Authorities did not confirm any charges or citations. Investigations are ongoing.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
While there should always be room to consider unlikely and possibly unavoidable reasons for a crash like this, it won’t surprise anyone to know a truck crashing into work zone traffic is almost always a sign the truck driver made a mistake. However, that does not make these kinds of accidents simple by any means. More often than not, even if a driver’s mistake leads to a crash, mistakes made long before they ever hit the road need to be addressed, as well.
I’ve been litigating truck wrecks for over 30 years, and a lot of serious truck wrecks begin with a truck driver’s employer. For instance, one critical aspect authorities tend to overlook is the pressure truck drivers may face to meet tight delivery schedules. This industry-wide practice can sometimes incentivize drivers to take risks, like speeding, driving long hours, or neglecting maintenance, to adhere to unreasonable deadlines imposed by their employers. Too often, trucking companies prioritize speed and production over safety meant to protect not just the general public but even their own employees.
Another example that gets too little attention is training and safety procedures. Any experienced trucker can attest that some employers out there just want warm bodies behind the wheel, regardless of their experience, qualifications, or possible history of reckless driving. It can lead to situations like one I had in a case a while back where a new driver got roughly an hour of training before they tossed him the keys and said, “Get to work.” Predictably, his inexperience led to a serious crash that a more responsible employer easily could have prevented with basic training.
The point I’m making here is that a driver’s mistake is obviously their own, but that doesn’t excuse the mistakes of others who contributed to the crash any more than a negligent employer’s actions would excuse a truck driver’s reckless actions. The law is nuanced enough that all responsible parties can be held accountable for their mistakes. The challenge is simply that only one of those parties is typically involved in the crash itself, and authorities may not extend their investigations beyond the crash scene. That means victims and families looking to get the whole story often need to be able to catch whatever authorities let slip through the cracks.
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