Trucker on Facebook at time of deadly Arizona crash, records show

If I shoot a gun randomly into a crowd could I then place partial blame on the person I killed because a chain of events led to them being in the way of the bullet? The driver did something wrong and he and only he should be held accountable for this.

 

What this accident and this discussion of this accident shows, IMO, is that life is too short, fragile, fickle and vulnerable for all this armchair second-guessing and nits-to-pick based on limited, second-hand facts.

There must be something better, more productive to do.

If not, that's a problem worth solving.

 

This wreck occurred in May. I've never even met an Arizona Highway Patrolman, other then the EB scale entering from California on I-10. Down on I-8 they still blow by me at 90+ mph without a second glance. They are sticklers but I've never encountered the revenue patrol out there.

 

Just read another news report,and it said the car parked in the lane had no one in it, the trooper killed was in a car in the shoulder which was second vehicle hit

 

My opinion is that law enforcement made a serious error with regard to scene safety by parking that car where they did. As the video shows, the trajectory of the truck was altered by the collision with the car, which caused it to wipe out the other vehicles on scene. Should have either parked a larger, heavier vehicle there, or parked it about a mile further back from the scene.

Yes, the truck driver is 110% at fault - the extra 10% because he KNEW he was screwing up, as evidenced by placing his wallet on the dash where it blocked him from the camera view.

 

They were asked to block the right lane. Stop blaming the cops. They did nothing wrong. They did their jobs.

 

I've had to thank you twice already. I'll have no more of this.....

 

The Buddhists say that life is meant to be hard and to live is to suffer.

Suffer, joseph. Suffer.

 

windsmith, I've been reading your posts and I have to agree with what you are saying. I've spent my share of time doing rescue and recovery work in the mountains, and one key thing that was drilled into us is, "Don't become another victim at the scene". In that case it meant making sure our rope work, rappel systems, etc. were all bombproof without making any mistakes, avoiding dislodging rocks that might rain down on us or on the original victim, etc. etc. Think everything through.

I would think the police department will be making a review of the accident with a critical eye toward looking at all the procedures for securing the original crash site to keep all the emergency responders safe. While it is true officer Huffman was doing his job, and placing his life on the line, it may very well be that his decision to put the cruiser in the right lane will be something that will be reviewed and found to be deficient.

When I was active in guiding and mountain rescue we avidly read each issue of Accidents in North American Mountaineering and discussed each situation, looking for the decisions that led up to an accident. As windsmith pointed out, accidents aren't usually something that happen as an isolated decision, they are often the culmination of a series of smaller decisions that in and of themselves weren't deadly or injurious.... but add them all up and they spelt disaster.

 

Very disturbing video. Not to be critical, but there could have been flares set down 50-100 -150 feet to warn drivers. As for Espinoza does anyone have updates with what the state of az will be charging him with?