Kingsport, TN — March 26, 2023, Jesse Delacruz, Jose Serrano Ramos, and two others were killed due to a truck accident with an allegedly impaired driver along Interstate 81.
Preliminary information about the fatal crash says that it occurred at around 7:00 p.m. along southbound lanes of I-81. The events began when a Chevy Express van experienced a tire blowout. The van pulled onto the shoulder, and multiple passengers got out to work on replacing the tire. While there, however, a semi-truck somehow went onto the shoulder and hit the van, striking the pedestrians, as well. The truck then overturned off-road.
As a result of the collision, four people from the van died. Reports identified two of the victims as 49-year-old Jesse Delacruz and 25-year-old Jose Serrano Ramos. One of the other pedestrians had injuries believed to be serious. The truck driver had non-life-threatening injuries.
From investigations, authorities allege that the truck driver had been intoxicated at the time of the collision. Currently, authorities have reported pending charges for vehicle homicide by intoxication, reckless aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and failure to exercise due care. The incident remains under investigation.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
Every day, I read about examples of both truck drivers put in situations they can’t possibly avoid as well as truck drivers who fail to live up to their responsibility of being extremely cautious and safe drivers. Then, there are some incidents like this that seem to go so far beyond the pale that it’s difficult to even put into words how horrible the behavior is.
Even if police didn’t say there was an impaired truck driver involved here, there aren’t many situations where a truck goes onto the shoulder and hits a disabled vehicle where the driver did nothing wrong. Things like distraction and fatigue are plenty common in those situations. But the fact this may have been an intoxicated driver behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle only raises further concerns that this terrible event was simply inevitable.
One thing to consider is if this driver works for a company or if they’ve been in trouble for this kind of behavior before. It’s one thing for an individual to behave recklessly without anyone noticing until it’s too late. But there are times when a company keeping proper oversight on their drivers, doing regular drug testing, being meticulous about hours of service and road safety, and taking other precautions can prevent reckless driving or catch the drivers who flout the rules and need to be removed from the road. Looking into this could show there’s a company that either was too negligent to notice something was wrong or knew about the issues and did nothing to fix them.
Ultimately, these are very serious charges. If the allegations prove to be true, there’s no doubt that someone so reckless causing so much devastation will face consequences. But are authorities also being thorough enough to find out whether or not there are other responsible parties here who contributed to four families losing a loved one? Are they going to face appropriate consequences, as well?
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