Cell phone linked to deadly crash (tractor-trailer nails school bus - kills girl - injures mother)

News & Observer ^ | 1/13/04

[Libloather]

Cell phone linked to deadly crash
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 5:33PM EST
The Associated Press

A truck driver fumbling for a cell phone plowed his tractor-trailer into a stopped school bus near Maxton today, killing a 5-year-old girl and injuring her mother and more than a dozen other children, troopers said. The wreck happened just after 7 a.m. on two-lane N.C. Highway 71 near the North Carolina-South Carolina line. Pre-kindergartener Sheila Hernandez was struck and killed as she attempted to board the bus. Maria Hernandez, 25, was severely injured as she stood nearby, watching her daughter.

Trucker Gary Kendall Garnett, who had been heading to pick up a load of chickens, told troopers "he was distracted because he was trying to locate his cell phone, which he dropped on the floorboard," said Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Everett Clendenin.

Charges were expected against Garnett once troopers confer with prosecutors later this week, Clendenin said.

According to the Highway Patrol, the 38-year-old Garnett from Hope Mills had been involved in at least two other accidents and had four previous driving convictions, including one for going 30 mph over the speed limit.

The weather was clear when the crash occurred and the bus driver had taken all necessary precautions when she stopped to let Sheila Hernandez board, Clendenin said.

He said skid marks at the scene showed the driver attempted to stop before his truck hit the bus squarely in the rear and then hit the child's mother. The force of the crash propelled the bus more than 400 feet and into the yards of nearby houses.

Maria Hernandez was transported to UNC Hospitals for treatment, where she was listed in serious condition Tuesday afternoon. One child from the bus was also taken to UNC Hospitals and a 9-year-old boy was transported to Duke University Medical Center. No additional information about their conditions were available.

Ten children and the bus driver were taken to Southeastern Regional Medical Center in Lumberton, mostly with bumps and scrapes. Four other children were treated and released from Scotland Memorial Hospital in Laurinburg, where the truck driver also was being treated for severe injuries.

Garnett was on his way from Lumber Bridge to pick up chickens for Mountaire Farms Inc., a chicken processing company headquartered in Selbyville, Del. Mountaire has operations in Delaware, North Carolina and Arkansas. Its total employment is about 5,000 with some 1,700 of those in North Carolina.

Clendenin said Garnett, who carried a valid commercial driver's license, had previously been cited for:

speeding 44 mph in a 35 mph zone in a commercial vehicle on March 29, 1999, in Bladen County;

speeding 85 mph in a 55 mph zone on Sept, 3, 1990, in a non-commercial vehicle in Cumberland County;

failing to stop for blue lights and driving too fast for conditions on May 3, 1986, in Cumberland County in a non-commercial vehicle.

Garnett also was involved in collisions in a commercial vehicle in Sampson County in 1999 and Burke County in 2000, Clendenin said.

In three cases, Garnett failed to appear in court on the date specified, but came later to answer the charges.

Mike Terrell, Mountaire's vice president for operations, said Garnett was on a local run, but that he didn't have information on the driver's previous record.

"We make sure that we are very diligent in following the U.S. Department of Transportation rules and regulations," Terrell said.

The accident scene was about 1 1/2 miles north of Maxton, near the border between Robeson and Scotland counties. The bus was bound for Townsend Middle School and R.B. Dean Elementary School.

[Between the Lines]

Prayers for all.

[LasVegasMac]

A child is killed...because of a phone.

Truly sad. Imagine how the parents feel.

This guy needs to spend some time in jail and find something else to do for a living. Something where his irresponsibility can't kill people.

LVM

[4everontheRight]

Terrible for the family and for the trucker..imagine his place in this. Stupid phone and he kills a child. I couldn't live with myself!

[Between the Lines]

A bad week for school buses... and it's only Tuesday.

Besides this wreck in NC, on Tuesday, nine elementary school students were injured in another collision in Okahumpka, Fla., when a tractor-trailer clipped the rear end of their bus. The truck driver was cited for failing to yield the right of way.

In northeastern Oklahoma, at least one high school student was killed and five others injured when their sport utility vehicle collided with a school bus.

In Bloomfield Township, Mich., an Amtrak passenger train collided with a school bus that was occupied only by the driver, who was taken to a local hospital. No one on the train was injured.

On Monday, a school bus in St. Louis overturned on a highway, injuring the driver and many of the 26 children aboard.

[diamondjoe]

"Garnett was on his way from Lumber Bridge to pick up chickens for Mountaire Farms Inc., a chicken processing company headquartered in Selbyville, Del. Mountaire has operations in Delaware, North Carolina and Arkansas. Its total employment is about 5,000 with some 1,700 of those in North Carolina."

If this company kept this guy as an employee after the number of traffic violations on his record, they deserve to lose the huge lawsuit they will no doubt be facing. It's like letting a dog with a record of biting people run around the local kiddie park.

[Indie]

May God grant this family the peace of the Lord, "which surpasses all understanding."
Truck drivers are supposed to be "professional" drivers. A freekin phone...lives destroyed...all of that beautiful potential and happiness snuffed out by something so ridiculous. Give the guy life or death, but get him out of society.