A rookie driver who was accused of the stabbing death of his trainer was found guilty of first degree murder last week. This week he was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Stanly Polk Jr. was training to be a driver with Werner Enterprises. According to reports, Polk was supposed to be trainer Ronald Ruiz’s last student. His granddaughter had just earned her CDL, and Ruiz was planning to drive team with her until retirement. According to one of his four daughters though, Ruiz had a bad feeling about Polk from the beginning.
“He just said this trainee was different than the other trainees,” said the daughter according to ABC25. “That there was just something off about this guy. I don’t know what he was all about but he really wanted him off the truck.”
They had been driving together for about a week when, at a rest stop just south of Salado, Polk stabbed and cut Ruiz at total of 17 times with his knife.
According to Polk, he was only acting in self-defense. He told the jury that Ruiz had used racist slurs and pulled a knife on him. But the jury was unconvinced. After just 90 minutes of deliberation, they handed down a guilty verdict.
Later that same week the sentencing hearings began – and then concluded the same day. A sentence for first degree-murder must be no less than 5 years and no more than 99 years in the state of Texas. Polk was sentenced to 50 years in prison including time served and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.
Ruiz was a 62-year-old Vietnam veteran.
Source: overdrive, centexproud, tdtnews, truckersreport, kxxv
What pos thats gives truckers
A bad name. Just get off truck
If your that unhappy and do they even do back round check
Before they hire people this is a terrible deal it shouldnt of happened
Werner probably wouldn’t let the trainer lose the student, and made him keep him. That happened to me at prime. I asked 4 times, actually begged for a new student, and they refused to let me have him off the truck. I ended up leaving him at prime, and told them to dispatch me without him or i quit. If that is the case, the truckers family should sue Werner for a ton of$$.
I don’t remember if it is the same case, but there was a similar situation, and it had been planned to remove the trainee when the team reached a company terminal. I’m pretty sure that I read it on this site.
Yep, so that makes it premeditated on Werner’s part.
Not a team here. Its a trainer and trainee. The trainer calls the shots as if the trainee gets removed from the truck.
I went through the same thing but it was the trainer that was abusive. This isn’t just students
Absolutely.Werner is responsible
I’m an ex driver for Prime too and the second trainer I had really sucked. I got my truck and started going out by myself and they did me so bad on my pay I eventually got out of there
It’s not that easy to just get off the truck.
Yes it is. Look…open door step out. Done! Next??!!!!……see?
It’s very easy. Get off the truck and refuse to get back on.
As a ex trainer i can tell you one thing for a fact…background checks as you mentioned do nothing to stop these things from happening. With an estimated 30 million people in the US who have mild to severe mental and emotional problems, there is no way to screen out the people in any occupation…having a less than perfect background is not a promise of bad behavior. Often times it is those who have no previous bad behavior that pose the greatest threat.
dont need a bad background check to kill someone. mental illness they saw the red flags on this guy & ignored them.
Tragic. I hope that the family wins their lawsuit against Werner.
how is it Werners fault?
In my opinion the driver trainer should have just left him and went with his own feelings. I left this hassle on the side of the road if he did he would probably be alive today.
No one was there but them too and the man above … yes he was found guilty but who knows if he was telling the truth that it was act of self defense
Yea, your probably right. The trainer had a bad feeling about the trainee and attacked him first. Happens all the time. Your a moron!!!!
17 cuts …()are not selft -defense.
Exactly, thank you! That’s an anger, pissed off, revengeful person. I could say more but I’m not. Use your head people, REALISTICALLY. I’m not saying anymore, other than probably the n word was used and it went off from there… game over. 🙁 not saying that’s what happened, obviously I don’t know, just a good educated guess.
You’re right. That is a “crime of passion” when you have that many.
I was a trainer @ CR England on a lease program. The company encourages training in order for the lease operator to make more money. I had 4 that year. 2 of them I liked & the other 2 were horrible. We clashed & didnt hit it off. Its all about personality confrontations
Two males couped up in a truck. Both trainer and student need a certain level of social skills to make the training successful.
How do you screen for nutters?
Werner has terminals in Texas. Drop the nutter off there.
I tried training not long ago. The first one had quit smoking but they made a mistake and he got on my truck. The second one had been teaming for a year in a automatic. I thought he was going to kill us. Rusty couldn’t shift to save our lives. He wanted out so I couldn’t fail him. While teaming he had been with 5-6 other drivers. The last one had been a trainer with another Company. He couldn’t do a logbook at all. Elogs were ok tho. After 2 weeks he demanded a truck. Being real green I told them what his problems were. In a few days we were routed to where he would get a truck. That was enough for me. Sorry but I’m not liking the training part so remove me please. Thanks
The murder should have gotten life or execution.
Exactly 5000 fine and time served wtf. That should be life with no parole or execute his ass
Time he has served already is counting as his 50 years. That’s what that meant.
Texas must be getting soft on crime.
First Degree is, PRE-meditated, murder…Usually get the needle for that.
If Werner valued the student over the experienced trainer, Ruiz should have gotten out of the truck. He was planning to leave anyway???
But then hind-sight is always 20-20.
Many drivers tote around serious knives as well as bad attitudes.
Werner should NOT allow this.
There is a LOT of tension, at times, between a Trainer and a student that may not be the best driver, shifter, backer etc. And needs / deserves much instruction.
Lots of these young people cannot handle ANY kind of criticism which is part and parcel of being a GOOD student.
No sir. In order to receive the death penalty you have to be convicted of capital murder. In Texas there is a difference between first degree and capital murder.
I’ve been out here for over 25 years and I have been a trainer for some of the big companies. But if I wanted a student off of my truck they were put off wherever I was at and the company either bused them back or had him picked up. But what a I don’t understand is that all this mans life is worth, $5000. I say this to the family, get a lawyer and sue Warner’s they are responsible for your Dad. They should never have put a man on that truck unless you’re dad had seen him and had set down and talked with him. If you are an old salty as a trainer know one goes on that truck before a set down. To the family please take action for your Dad.
did the guy have issues before he got on the truck? the trainer should of removed him!
I also had a trainer , he was Hispanic and racist. I had asked several times to get off the truck but when the company would call him, he lied saying everything was fine. It reached the boiling point where I called again while sitting next to him. I even told the dispatch that I was going to end up with a battery charge if I wasn’t taken off the truck. Once again the trainer said that wasn’t his idea and didn’t understand the problem. Once off the phone the trainer started cursing me and name calling again. The only way I was able to get off the truck was to talk him into stopping by a terminal for driver appreciation day. There I told some people what was going on and I was directed to the president of the company who happened to be at this specific terminal. When the trainer saw what I was doing he actually grabbed my arm and said we were leaving. The president saw what was happening and he called in and I was taken to a nearby terminal and dropped off. I wish dispatch would listen when there is a problem. I could have been saved a lot of stress and abuse. I got another trainer and I couldn’t have asked for a better guy. His name was Deradio and I would love to be in touch with him again. Some trainers should never be allowed in public let alone cooped up with another person
Some these trainers try to take advantage over these students and think they’re the boss of them. Just had a friend quit last week bc of a racist pos. By having compassion and be having an Intellect no one has to die for trivia matters
He requested that they remove the student, but he was told to keep him on the truck until the next terminal. HIS family is the one that should get a $90 million dollar verdict. Then maybe companies will remove these idiots when their experienced trainers tell them to!
oh he did ask to have him removed?
I use to train for Werner I got 1 guy who had 3 people living in his head. He took a polk at me and i left him with the local police.
“took a polk”. Poke? Nice pun, anyway.
Haha! “Polk”! This guy’s name was Polk. Great pun. “Poke”.
The one reason I don’t train,salute to you veteran..r.i.p….may that bum rots forever.
Why do y’all send out these old ass stories like it just happened? #unsubscribed
The pencil pushers, who drive a desk, will hire almost anyone to avoid a charge of “Prejudice”.
Shame for Ruiz.
Texas has a work-farm system of incarceration. Gets hot down there…..
50 years +/- of picking corn and cotton by hand????
This miscreant will wish for the needle, if someone else
doesnt kill him in the meantime.
How do they force them to work? Threaten solitary? Can only leave them in there for so long.
Training can be difficult. The students should be determined, and criticism is a part of training. How else are you going to know your weak points. My trainer was a professional. He argued, made me cry, a man right, but he knew I cared and the mistakes got cleaned up. 14 years. Thanks to him. May God bless All Trainers.
I don’t see a trainer who argues and causes conflict professional. Also not all trainers should even be training since they can qualify to do so just after a few months. To me that is 2 students
how ridiculous
Should’ve been made to walk a gauntlet of former trainers..
Werner Enterprises is getting bent over a lot. Their student murders one of their trainers; they lose an epic court case where they weren’t even at fault.. Just close the doors. Screw ’em all.
just a matter of time thats all this was
I had drove a truck for 9 years. Since I let my CDL drop I had to go thru all the political crap, driving school, trainer, etc. The 2nd day my “trainer” told me there was nothing he could teach me, so lets just put as many miles on the truck as we can. I drove nights, he drove days.
I drove for 5 weeks, having spent 11 days in a motel in LA area as he had to be home. The days in the motel did not count against your required days for training.
The 4th of July was coming up, and he was planning 6 days in Vegas. He said he was really looking forward to flipping burgers and hot dogs, and was going to stick me in a motel for the 7 days.
I finally said no.
I called my DM and he said he needed me behind a wheel, and I had been in a motel far too much.
My driver said I AM going to drop you at the motel, what do you think you’re going to do? I said I would be gone. I did not care if I had to take a bus back to Denver, I would.
We were in Cedar City UT. and my DM asked if I could get to Las Vegas, as he had a trainer there that was a good guy coming up from LA. He didn’t have the hours to get to Cedar City, but he could make Vegas.
My old trainer said he didn’t want to lose his money from me driving the next year. as I had one week to go. I told him it was a done deal as I was already off the truck. He was arguing with me, and my DM was still on the line. He asked if there were any motels I could see. There were 2. He said if this guy wouldn’t take me to Vegas, to just get a motel and my new trainer would be there the next day. He finally said “Alright!”. The way there he was ranting on how he was doing all the training, and someone else was going to get all the money. The company paid 1cent for every mile I drove for the next year.
I asked him just how was he even training me sleeping all night while I was driving? We were putting almost 1400 miles on a day, and he never did one thing that I thought was training. I told him to think about that flipping burgers, and how much each one cost him. Kind of a cheap shot I admit, but I was kind of pissed too.
As we pulled into a rest area on Southbound I-15 near the Arizona line, he swept out the crap in his trainer so it would be clean for the pick up in Vegas. He just swept it on the ground and never picked it up. He did stuff like this all the time we were driving. A couple of time in that 5 weeks, he went to sleep and drove off the road. He told me it was no big deal since his trainer went to sleep in Memphis and totaled the truck.
When I got to the TA in Vegas I got off the truck, and was putting my stull on the island. He pushed the rest out on the ground, slammed the door, and took off, running over one of my bags. I was my dirty clothes, so no big deal.
There was an owner op that asked what was going on, and I told him. He said he was going North and I could get to Salt Lake, he’d be glad to take me. I thanked him and let him know my trainer was on the way. He said he never saw anyone do that so abrupt like that. I told him he was just mad, and that’s how he was.
My new trainer was night and day. He had to do all my paper work that the 1st one was supposed to do. I got home on the 3rd of Just, my Wedding anniversary, and finished training. I am still friends with that trainer even though we have both retired 7 years ago.
It isn’t worth having a bad trainer, there are far too many companies out there crying for good people.
I tried to train, but the few. students I had should have never been behind the wheel of a car, let alone a Tractor-Trailer. I found I didn’t like sharing my truck with anyone.
I have received a ton of e-mails from US Xpress telling me that with my experience,I will make well over $110,000 a year as a trainer.This sounds extremely farfetched to me,so I done some digging around and found out that their figures were all considering a bonus based perfect situation. Chances are they have also hired plenty of nut cases also. More than enough to go around!!!
There are some bad trainner’s and some have the attitude that if you don’t do what they want weather it’s about trucking or not they have the God attitude of telling you they will make sure things go bad for you, they should not have this kind of control over new member’s that’s trying to find a way to take care of their families just like the trainner.
He was just about to start his life as a trucker and now he will be inmate #226894 for the rest of his life!! What I don’t get is why bother getting a CDL in the 1st place if you were going to be a murderer instead??
I’m an ex Werner driver here. I had two trainers back in early 2017.
Werner policy is to not abandon any trainee. Trainers are terminated for that.
With that being said, Ruiz should have left his sorry rear end someplace.
Doesn’t TX give death sentence for first degree murder???? This wacko shoulda got it !!!!
I was a trainer once. I will never be one again.
I had a bad trainee. My company wouldn’t let me get rid of him. I wound up stranding him at a truck stop, anyway and calling and telling the company where they could find him.
He was this middle-aged tough from South Chicago. He didn’t like being told what to do. Finally, he threatened me. I asked the company to get him off my truck. They gave me a bunch of platitudes and advice. I felt like I was in danger. I took matters into my own hands and left him sitting someplace and quit my job as soon as I got the truck back to a terminal.
I won’t say the name of the company because that might get your post moderated. But I will say that they’re one of the megas and they operate red trucks, and they operate out of Salt Lake City Utah.
If you get a bad trainee, it could mean the end of your life. As was very amply proven by the above. If you die, the company will offer up some kind of statement, maybe pay out some money to the family, but up to that point, they’re little more than armchair critics and quarterbacks. It isn’t their lives on the line and you’re just another driver. They’ll just shrug in the end and find another driver when it’s all over.
Train if it’s something you like. For some it’s a calling. Just bear in mind, as this article makes very clear, if you train your life is at risk with every trainee you bring on board.
I don’t see a trainer who argues and causes conflict professional. Also not all trainers should even be training since they can qualify to do so just after a few months. To me that is 2 students
why do white’s always have to have control or the last word, who gave them the right to always be right.
Why in hell are you turning this into a racial thing?😲😠😡 Not one person said anything about race, EXCEPT YOU! Leave it to a racist to bring race into a non-racial conversation. Way to go moron!👎🖓👎🖓
One if two reasons I stopped training … Company didn’t have my back thats it see ya…
Very sad. My deepest condolences to the family. I just came off the road September of 2017. Been out there 6 years. Started with Werner right out of school. Had two trainers and I was fortunate to have had them both. First trainer was a white male…. We hit it off like we knew each other personally and we remained friends til this day. Second trainer was a white female…. She was just awesome. Sad to say I only stayed with Werner 7 months. They were just awful. I pray this family gets justice for such a tragedy. Werner has had multiple law suites against them. Hopefully someday someday will shut them down. God bless and for all of still driving and keeping it between the lines, drive hard and stay safe.
I’m a trainer with crst.. so far I’ve had 3 students that listened to me… being an ex DI I ve trained hundreds of men some listen some don’t but I talk to them first and tell them alittle about me and then they open up and then I assess who they are….my deepest sympathy for the family…GOD BLESS
I am a retired driver was over 30 years experience. I have taught several people to drive and it was an exhilarating experience both good and bad. If I would have had anyone in my truck that I didn’t like I wouldn’t give a damn what the company said I would send him out to check the tires and pull off and leave him on the side of the blacktop ribbon if it came to that point. Yes Warner is responsible and they should be made to pay for this! To this family I’m sorry for your loss please don’t let Werner get away with this!!!
God damn trainer better be easy with them students. I went through about 5-10 of them. You basically have to do everything their way plus like them and if they don’t think you like them they will put you off the truck
of course you have to do it their way, theyre the trainer. Spoiled entitled students. just shut up & listen.
I have been in this business for over 30 years between two continents. I have seen many “trainers.” These people are not “real” trainers. They are not mentally trained on how to handle a student, how to train a student for that “perfection.”. Some of these trainers have such huge egos, short fuses, and are immature; it’s silly. They may know the industry, the laws and regulations, equipment, but they fail on the psychology of training someone.
Give trainers more training. Quit putting drivers of 90 days or 90 years behind the wheel in a class room for one week and then call them trainers. Government wants to regulate trucking? Include some REAL training/trainers. Make our roads safer!
It was clearly the knifes fault.