A trucker who pulled over to help a fellow driver after a crash was rewarded by being attacked and getting his truck stolen by the other driver.
Anthony Lewis Watkins was driving on I-44 near Claremore, Oklahoma when he left the roadway and his rig overturned. Another driver stopped to help him out, but Watkins was less than welcoming.
According to the other driver, when he approached, Watkins attacked him, knocked him to the ground, and stole his truck. After Watkins took off down the road, the driver called the police.
Watkins made it 30 miles before authorities were finally able to stop him. During that time, the truck endured eight flat or damaged tires. When the Oklahoma Highway Patrol was finally able to detain him, they described that Watkins was “very agitated” and “could not sit still.” Watkins admitted to authorities that he had taken cocaine, ecstasy and meth.
But Watkins wasn’t done yet. While he was at the hospital to have a blood test taken, he was briefly uncuffed to use the restroom. He took that opportunity to attack a police officer and try to take his gun before he was again subdued.
Watkins has been charged with driving under the influence of drugs, possession of a stolen vehicle, eluding police, assault on an officer, and running a roadblock.
Source: claremoreprogress, tulsaworld, newsok
Western Express would hire him.
LMAO!
You’re right, I should know I used to work for them, They treat the experienced drivers like crap & the lack of experience like they were kings & queens & pay us all the same….Next to nothing!!
lol to run in maryland
I hope someone looks at this guy’s previous history and if they find he has a sketchy past as a CDL holder, then they should also go after whoever hired him. Pretty sad when a driver can’t even pull over to render assistance to another driver in need without worrying about something like this.
I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s a one-off incident. The transport industry is by no means immune to these sorts of whackos but I doubt we’ll hear about something like this happening again anytime soon.
I’m with rayzer. Anybody who’d hire the likes of him needs consequences too.
It is but ive seen some drivers out there who acted liked they rather stab you than look at you
Unfortunately most places not just trucking companies do not do proper background checks. This is going to continue until they do and its not that they don’t have enough money to do a proper background checks. This business is getting more and more dangerous for man and women who are just trying to make an honest dollar
Probably Dispatch told him he had better get there whatever way necessary or else !
In someone else’ truck? Delivering someone else’ load, It don’t add up!!!
To be fair, he WAS jacked up on a mega speedball…
It made sense at the time. Lol
And we wonder why the trucking industry has changed so much. Used to be a day when truckers lined up to help each other.
You’re remembering a time when we aspired to be truck drivers. We learned to load trucks because axles and fifth wheels didn’t slide, we shifted gears, read maps and planned our own trips. A driver had to think as opposed to sitting behind the wheel listening to warning buzzers that tell him he’s drifted out of his lane or gotten to close. When a job has been so automated it stands to reason the quality and character of the person required to do it is lessened. If it was a little more difficult to become a driver, perhaps the quality would improve.
There will be many people like him too because of drugs
You stole my rig……I like that. Merry Christmas everyone.
Why is it the trucking company with these problem drivers never get printed in these newsletters? Do the drivers a service by printing the name of the company ! Do a follow up by getting the facts about why did this driver decided to use drugs to do his job. Was he a drug user of his own accord or was he a weak minded individual that took drugs and ran illegal to appear as a hero to his company?
E Logs drove him crazy
That honestly made me laugh at loud. Nice one!
I like that.
lol
And truckers wonder why DOT is so hard on us. Because of drivers like him, drivers who do what they are supposed to suffer…thanks…
One out of a million, shouldn’t be enough reason to treat the rest of us like crap. Cops treat truckers like that because they can, not because of this ONE idiot.
Hahahaha! Really?
Trucking industry changes constantly, but over the years the drivers have been changing for the negative. Trucks do every thing but dump the pee jug and drivers lack basic driving and courtesy today for the most part. Few take responsibility for their actions good or bad. It puzzles me how carriers will hire drivers that look talk and dress like dumpster divers and have them represent their company.
I agree brother trucker,ain’t like it used to be,no more proffessionalism behind the wheel,some drivers dont dress proffessional,hopefully I can guit driving in a couple yrs,Maybe get an office job,or back to being a part time pc officer,been on the rd 41 yrs & 3 yrs as a police officer,maybe to old to get back into law inforcement,but getting out of the trucking industry is a given,be safe.
Yet another black eye story about this industry. Stories like this just contribute to the stereotypical image of the ‘typical truck driver’ shared by so many outside of the industry. I really wish the industry would weed out low-life elements like the one in the story.
Unfortunately because of the industries driver shortage and carriers “greed and need” these days, companies will continue to scrape the barrel just to fill a seat and move freight.
Changes in the industry has nothing to do with the driver using drugs, running off the road, assaulting someone, thief of a vehicle, running a roadblock, and assaulting an official. If I’m not mistaken nowhere in the article did it say the drivers company (the industry ) force him to use drugs.
No good deed goes unpunished
Doesn’t anyone find the charges puzzling? Seems the initial assault/battery on the good sumaritan driver was completely ignored in favor of the cops focusing on themselves. Typical and a sad reflection on law enforcement.
Must have been with Raines and sons….
Glad they subdued the jerk. I imagine that ends his driving career and it should. Maybe some time in prison will help because thats where he should be. Its funny how some of these idiots think they can get away with stuff like that. Wake up morons
And the article just above it says DOT is cutting the drug test requirements from 50% to 25%…..hmmmm. And by the way…kind of ironic that just when Amazon is thinking about getting their own authority that the drug test requirement goes down. Amazon already has their own dedicated trailers for UPS/FedEx, but are toying with getting their own rigs.
I mention Amazon because they just opened up a DC here in Kenosha, WI–couldn’t get anyone to work there–full page colour ads in the Sunday Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, postcards sent to people in Milwaukee and West Allis (maybe more, just know these two cities). They offered sign-on bonuses, retention bonuses, shuttle service to/from Milwaukee, hiring locations (besides the DC) at hotels in Waukegan IL and Milwaukee WI, no HS diploma/GED required! Hourly pay was up to $12.50/hr in early ads, then by the time of the post cards went up to $15.50. However, applicants were subject to a drug screen…wonder why they couldn’t find workers. And now they’re tossing around getting into trucking…
I did Safety/Compliance for the better part of 15 years. Sometimes I miss it, but mostly NOT.
Hope everyone out there had a safe Merry Christmas and will have a safe and Happy New Year 🙂
It’s sad
That driver was smokin some wild drugs.
Why wasn’t he charged with assaulting the Driver?
Drivers never count. The driver (the assaulted one) is probably going to be charged with bruising the crackhead’s fist with his face!
commenter above note “e-logs drove him crazy”
?huh?!
e-logs protect against Driver Coercion whether it’s a DM try2 cram trip down throat irregardless of Hours/weather/construction/holidayTraffic -or- carrier’s alleged protocols require routing to terminal for repairs unless fully broken down dead stop or hav exhaust leak.
BUT i suppose if you’re a member of one of the uglier subsets to the ‘set’ [set being carrier&drivers], then E-Logs might make it harder to: keep 2 logs; steal parts/tires; steal trucks; gamble instead of sleep.
Autonomous truck, advertised as SUPER CRUISE CONTROL is here.
So, if you’re bothered by E-Logs, you’ll really be bent out of shape when your Medical/Safety Dept goes preemptive & introduces motion activated camera by door & integrates the wristband Fitness(sleep) Tracker 4 Truckers to ensure that you are sleeping & not gambling or entertaining a hooker.
Heck, in UK govt is alledgedly in process of introducing driverless buses to continue to go digital & cut overhead.
Here’s sign noted many years ago: ‘SMILE You could be replaced by a button”.
Secretaries had to move forward with tech changes & shift to Admin Assist & return to school to add computer literacy. Dont hear much about stenography these days with so many recording, voice type, & autoTranscribe devices.
Court Reporters may still be around.
Shucks, hasnt it been maybe 30-40yrs since heavy duty automated GIANT robot looking thingie came along that a logger gets inside & loggers were upset.
I’m not saying i like new hours rules or e-logs, but company last with b4 retired already employed ‘best practices’ on all fronts & it was extremely rare to be ‘coerced’, AND if happened at all, it occurred when assigned DM out sick or on vacation & had Temp-DM. A substandard TempDM can be one of those stinkers who wanted to cross off the extra trucks on her/his Board[list] no matter what. And, that’s when i would remind whoever that i’d pay for extra letters over QComm in order to create virtual hard copy. &dont 4get to take pictures of ELogs & QComm messages unless you live conveniently next door in city where QCOMM ARCHIVE located. ELogs protect from Driver Coercion in that, per school house training we had, if DM wont take ‘NO’ for an answer & QCOMM yack broke up your SLEEPER BREAK, then you should LOG in to ON-DUTY-NOT-DRIVING status. This will bust your sleeper break & get the message across to that ugly bleep DM trying to tell you that you have hours left to go from Canadian border truck stop in NH or Vermont & over to Walmart DC in Maine to p/u empty & then p/u load in NY & deliver Youngstown OH by 2100est next day when you will be bumping 70HR & a ZERO Hours acquired day because fresh off a HomeCall Break; so, you will be
5-6 hours short once weather & Northeast corridor traffic delays factored.
Further, did attacking driver hav E-Logs? And if there was SMART TECH in truck that required code input to UNOPAQUE a SMART WINDSHIELD, that drugo-creep wouldn’t hav been able to drive it. Some1 HAS to be working on developing an ANTI-GLARE-COATING for interior of all glass in cab that is SMART & can be OPAQUED when truck is parked. Or, integrated solar powered SMART TRUCK/TRAILER SECURITY System with voice recognition & durress recognition lock-downs.
Just saying…
pg#2 Bottom Line: Throw that thieving creepo drugo in JAIL & throw away key for a good long while. That’s just unbelieveable.
Kinda hard to give me a beatdown and steal my truck with a bullet hole in your dumb ass. Concealed carry. It’s your right. I hope that drug addict enjoyed his cavity search in lock up.