Posted on 04/30/2007 7:36:03 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
The driver who crashed a tanker loaded with gasoline and brought down a heavily trafficked highway overpass was given a commercial trucker's license despite a history of criminal convictions, including drug and burglary arrests.
James Mosqueda, 51, of Woodland also got a special hazardous materials endorsement last year from the federal Transportation Security Administration. To get it, he had to undergo an FBI criminal history check and an intelligence background check.
"It's reprehensible," said Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, who chairs both the Assembly Transportation Committee and the Joint Committee on Emergency Services and Homeland Security. "Someone with that record has no business driving hazardous materials on our highways."
The elevated section of highway that funnels traffic from the Bay Bridge to a number of key freeways was destroyed early Sunday after flames from James Mosqueda's overturned gasoline truck caused part of that overpass to buckle and collapse onto a roadway below.
Although a predicted traffic nightmare failed to materialize Monday as workers heeded the dire warnings and stayed home, or seized on free public transportation, transit officials cautioned it will be months before things return to normal for Bay Area commuters.
Authorities said drugs and alcohol were not factors in the crash, and that Mosqueda may have lost control because he was speeding from a refinery in Benicia to a gas station near the Oakland airport.
He served two years and eight months in prison following a 1996 arrest for heroin possession in Sacramento County, court records show. His criminal rap sheet stretching back to 1981 also includes arrests for burglary, felony drug charges and possession of stolen property, according to the California Department of Corrections and the Sacramento County District Attorney's office.
His brother, Ruben Mosqueda, 44, an artist living in San Francisco, said his brother has been sober for more than a decade and now works as a drug and alcohol counselor with a Hispanic health organization.
"All that happened over 10 years ago," Ruben Mosqueda said of his brother's criminal record. "A lot has changed."
Still, in light of Mosqueda's numerous convictions, the Transportation Security Administration said late Monday it would review whether he should have been cleared to drive a gasoline tanker.
"Under TSA HazMat rules, individuals who have been convicted of certain felonies will not be able to hold a hazardous materials endorsement," said TSA spokeswoman Andrea McCauley. "In this case, we are going to further investigate this case and look into the individual details."
TSA rules require those convicted of a drug offense to wait seven years before qualifying for the HazMat endorsement. There is also a five-year waiting period after a convict is released from prison. Since Mosqueda was released in 2001, he became eligible in 2006.
There is also nothing that prevents a convicted felon who has served his sentence from getting his commercial truck driver's license in California - so long as he has a clear driving record, CHP Chief Steve Vaughn said.
Still, officials quickly called for a review of rules that allow a person with a criminal background to drive a truck carrying more than 8,000 gallons of gasoline through a densely populated area.
"We should look into the policy that would give a driver with a checkered past like this the ability to drive such a hazardous vehicle," said Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
Investigators examined evidence at the accident scene Monday to determine what caused the collision and whether Mosqueda was at fault. None one died and he was the only person injured. He walked away from the scene and hailed a cab and remained hospitalized Monday with second-degree burns.
His mother, Alicia Mosqueda, said it was an accident, and he shouldn't be blamed for it.
"It was a real miracle that he was able to walk out alive," she said in a telephone interview. "God knows he had no fault in this. He was just doing his work."
Crews also began hauling away charred debris and engineers prepared for reconstruction, which could take two to three months. Inspectors X-rayed about a dozen pillars supporting the ramp near the collapsed section to see if they could be salvaged, California Department of Transportation spokesman Jeff Weiss said.
He cautioned that a scarcity of steel resulting from a building boom, in China and India could slow reconstruction.
"We can't get steel like we used to," Weiss said.
The damaged roads, vital arteries linking San Francisco to its eastern suburbs, carry some 80,000 vehicles a day. Originally built in the 1950s, the collapsed road was retrofitted in the late 1990s to withstand earthquake damage.
Rather than rebuild the ramp to existing blueprints, engineers would likely overhaul the interchange to conform to today's more stringent seismic standards, Weiss said.
Emergency response officials were also doing their own analysis for lessons they can apply to the region's inevitable next earthquake, or a terrorist attack.
"It's almost your perfect tabletop exercise - real pristine, clean, and nobody got hurt," CHP Officer Mike Wright said.
Newsom said city officials were also looking at the tanker crash for clues for how to shore up their emergency response plan.
"Every time we go through this, it's beneficial because we're able to see the gaps," he said. "This is not a dress rehearsal, it's serious, but we didn't lose any lives."
Applying lessons from past earthquakes could also be key to a quick recovery.
After the 1989 Loma Prieta quake collapsed a section of the Bay Bridge's upper span, crews were able to complete the repairs in just one month. The Santa Monica Freeway was reopened in 66 days, well ahead of schedule, after it was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
Those projects were sped along by incentive clauses that reward contractors for getting the job done ahead of time and fine them for delays.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's emergency declaration authorized free transit on the Bay Area Rapid Transit rail system, ferries and buses. Many apparently took advantage: Parking lots at outlying BART stations like El Cerrito and Pittsburg-Baypoint filled up earlier than usual as commuters tried to beat the rush they imagined was coming. Others took the day off or telecommuted.
"I'm mad," said Crystal McSwain, who has a commuter pass for the trans-bay bus, but was taking BART - a more expensive option. "My life is upside down, and I don't know how long it's going to take."
Your problem is that you continue to claim that this has something to do with skin color. For you perhaps, but the post to which you originally replied made no mention of it.
I just realized that maybe you are simply unaware of the Mexican Truck issue, and simply took the original poster's comment completely out of context, in which case your response might have been understandable.
If that isn't it and you do understand the Mexican Truck issue, my charge stands and you would have to fall into one of three camps:
1) You are unjustifiably hypersensitive to the issue of race (which means you have been brainwashed by Libs)
2) You are a cynical race-baiter with a hidden agenda (perhaps you have a financial interest in allowing Mexican trucks on our roads)
3) You blindly accept anything thrown your way by our gubmint, naively believing they always have your best interests at heart.
Oh, and your stance on illegal immigration has nothing to do with this either. The debate over Mexican Trucks has nothing to do with immigration.
Thanks for perspective
We dont need new steeking(steenking) laws!
Yeah. Trucking springs to mind right along with aviation as the perfect occupation for rehabilitated criminals.
No, I’ve never driven a truck. And I don’t think there’s a big distinction between accidents caused by a truck going over the speed limit, or just too fast for it’s weight, and being “caused by cars”. It’s a given that other vehicles will pose a hazard on the highway from time to time. But a big heavy truck is less able to dodge out of the way, when a car gets into trouble in front of it. And when the contents of the truck are explosive the scale of resulting damage is multiplied.
YOU’RE AN IDIOT.
On Google Maps, this ramp looks like a broad sweeping turn. I don’t see anything like the progessive increase in curvature, e.g., which one often finds on exit ramps.
How is it that he couldn’t make it through this interchange under optimally light traffic conditions? Had he driven this route before? One would think he was at least familiar with the interchange, even if this was the first time he made this delivery.
Well, you are right, one shouldn’t presume, but I think that many of the questions here can and will be answered. If a car cut him off, I’ll be surprised.
Except that he was SPEEDING, for crying out loud!!! An accident! Pul-lease! Give me a break!! What the h$ll was he doing speeding, when he was driving hazardous waste??? This guy belongs in jail, and should be kept from EVER driving any big rigs again! Thank GOD he didn't kill anyone!
James Mosqueda
Of all the surnames in the world...
Say, anybody know the name of the taxi driver?
"We can't get steel like we used to," Weiss said.
We should be thanking the driver for exposing this for us. We need to know about these things. As for the drug and crime history, it raises an eyebrow, but we need to be able to forgive people for their past mistakes. We can put some things behind us. Sounds like he did his time and went straight. He was working for a living, and nobody died.
Impossible. To make it, we'd have had to melt it, and everybody knows our steel doesn't melt.
Yeah, they (especially China) gotta keep "building" their military up. Wouldn't want to slow that down.
And who was it that relaxed those DHS background rules?
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