Mack Truck Driver Pulls someone's Pin ? ? ?

I don't care if you pull in to a rest area or truck stop to just use the bathroom and then roll, ALWAYS check your pin, hood, etc. I've had my hood latch released, my pin pulled on my 5th wheel, my tarp rolled open on my hopper, seals broken on my tarp AND hoppers, and my safety latches not only undone but completely removed from my dump trailer. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS check!

 

This has been a Public Service Announcement!

 

When you park ALWAYS lock your trailer brakes then pull forwards until your tractor is in a slight bind, keep it in a slight bind (pressure) while you lock your truck brakes.
Another way is to unlock your truck brakes while keeping your trailer locked and trying to back up.
But ALWAYS walking around to check your truck before pulling off is the only guarantee that it won't happen to you.

 

These are the best tool a truck driver can have. Not just in the area of preventing vandlism on your truck, but things like theft and even terrorism!

 

Someone did this to me at one of our own terminals in Ohio. I woke up late and took off out of my spot. Got around 3 rows of trailers and cut left to head back around toward the gate. Suddenly I heard a loud ### noise. It was my trailer with 35,000 pounds of hazmat now sitting in the nose of my trailer. Right there at the exit. Fortunately I stopped before it ripped every line on my truck. Also fortunate is that it was 0300 and I was the only one trying to get an early start on the day. By the time
I finally raise the trailer enough that I could dump my airbags and get under the trailer, raise my tractor a bit to take pressure off of the landing gear and raise it some more and lower my airbags again to slide back into the kingpin, I felt like I was legitimately having a heart attack and made some #### up about the trailer not passing the PTI and asking them to pull the load. I took my ### back to sleep. I made it probably a half mile around the terminal before the trailer came off of the #### tractor. If I was at a truck stop and made it a half mile, I could have been coming off the onramp to the highway and dropped a trailer at highway speed into the middle of the highway and killed someone, possibly myself if I lost control.

As a result, I check every time I set my brakes both the tandem release and the kingpin. But yes, if someone does this #### it could kill someone. Maybe not attempted murder but it should definitely be a felony level offense. Some soccer mom hitting a set of tandems at 70mph isn't funny to me. Nor is trying to ruin someone's career.

 

Not not charging someone but not attempted murder by a long shot.

 

This is the closest I can find in Missouri, where I am currently parked... D Felony.

Section: 569.0080 Tampering in the first degree--penalty. RSMO 569.080

 

I know SC

 

I'm not an Attorney by any means but I have had the opportunity to speak to a prosecutor here in Virginia last year about a local issue. To make a case for Murder you must establish all the elements of said crime. One of the key elements is intent. Without intent you will not get a competent Judge to let a case go to a Jury. This why we have other charges like Manslaughter and negligent Homicide. Pulling a pin as a prank that causes a death will bring charges but never Murder because the Intent element is just not there. Also remember this. As the driver and you have this to happen you might get a charge for driving a CMV without a prudent check. Keep that in mind.

 

I know this is old...but new to me....and I have never ever heard of it.... E.V.I.L...similar to spinning the cylinder with 1 round in my .357 and pull the trigger on strangers ....I would prosecute this as a terrorist attack if I was the man making the call...

If no law currently exist I would create one and declare tampering with heavy equipment a federal crime for sure....the way things are headed.