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Texting-while-driving truck driver crashes into swimming pool (2 phones at once)
Buffalo News ^ | July 30, 2009

Posted on 07/30/2009 11:38:05 AM PDT by Wolfie

Texting-while-driving truck driver crashes into swimming pool

LOCKPORT — The driver of a tow truck texting on one cell phone while talking on another Wednesday morning crashed into a car at Tonawanda Creek Road North near Willow Wood Drive, injuring a woman and her niece, Niagara County sheriff's deputies said.

The flatbed tow truck then crashed through a fence and into a house before ending up in a swimming pool.

Chief Deputy Steven Preisch said the driver of the Adams tow truck, identified as Nicholas Sparks, 25, of Burt, admitted he was both texting and talking just after 8 a.m., when he hit the car on Willow Wood, which was stopped to make a turn.

"According to witnesses, he did not even stop, slow down or hit the brakes," Preisch said.

Sparks was charged with reckless driving, talking on a cell phone and following too closely. Preisch said deputies will be seizing his two cell phones and will request search warrants for the phone records to verify allegations the driver was talking on the phone.

"It's crazy the law [for texting while driving] is on the governor's desk. But it's irresponsible," Preisch said. "Here's an example where technology is progressing faster than the bureaucracy and laws can keep up. It doesn't make common sense."

Sparks was heading east on Tonawanda Creek Road North when he rear-ended the car of Lily White, 68, of Lockport, who suffered head injuries and was taken by Mercy Flight to Erie County Medical Center, Buffalo. She was listed in good condition.

Her great-niece, Kiara McDowell, 8, of the Town of Lockport, who was in the rear seat, was taken to Women & Children's Hospital, Buffalo, for treatment of wrist injuries, Preisch said. She was later released. Sparks also was treated in ECMC for back and neck injuries.

Preisch said the flatbed truck was towing two vehicles, with two motor cycles on the bed.

Preisch said that after the collision with the car, the flatbed went through a yard and sideswiped a house at 6369 Tonawanda Creek, with one of the towed vehicles hitting the house, then continued through a privacy fence and into the in-ground pool.

He said the cleanup at the house, owned by Brad Kanel, took more than five hours. He said it was hard finding a truck big enough to pull the flatbed out of the family's pool.

A damage estimate was being tabulated.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: cellphones; texting
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1 posted on 07/30/2009 11:38:06 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: Wolfie

Hey if Bill Gates can’t get Windows to multi-task without crashing, why should a human expect too?!


2 posted on 07/30/2009 11:41:42 AM PDT by George from New England (escaped CT 2006; now living north of Tampa Bay)
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To: Wolfie
the law [for texting while driving] is on the governor's desk

I thought there was going to be a law AGAINST it, not FOR it.

3 posted on 07/30/2009 11:42:14 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: Wolfie

Every time I see some jackass talking on a phone while driving, I wish I was a cop for about ten minutes. I’d pull them over, smash their phone with my heel, and say “Have a nice day”.


4 posted on 07/30/2009 11:42:14 AM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: Wolfie
Texting-while-driving truck driver crashes into swimming pool

Kinda makes me nostalgic for the good ole days of CB radios and that horrible 'Convoy' song!!

5 posted on 07/30/2009 11:42:48 AM PDT by DustyMoment (FloriDUH - proud inventors of pregnant/hanging chads and judicide!!)
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To: George from New England

wow. a windows-bashing hijack on the first post! don’t see that everyday.


6 posted on 07/30/2009 11:43:26 AM PDT by thefactor (yes, as a matter of fact, i DID only read the excerpt)
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To: Wolfie
He said it was hard finding a truck big enough to pull the flatbed out of the family's pool.

Yeah, the market for that sort of thing is pretty small.

7 posted on 07/30/2009 11:43:39 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: Wolfie

Towing two cars adds a whole lot of inertia.


8 posted on 07/30/2009 11:43:46 AM PDT by wastedyears (The Tree is thirsty and the hogs are hungry.)
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To: Wolfie

Well, it was pretty hot out yesterday - good time for a dip in the pool./sarc


9 posted on 07/30/2009 11:43:57 AM PDT by libertarian27 (Ingsoc: Life, Liberty and the Department of Happiness)
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To: Wolfie

Epic fail.


10 posted on 07/30/2009 11:45:43 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps !"~~)
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To: Wolfie

What are people thinking? It’s hard enough for people to talk on a cell phone, let alone texting while they drive. This guy deserves to spend some time in jail.


11 posted on 07/30/2009 11:46:19 AM PDT by NRA2BFree
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To: Wolfie
two phones at once

He was probably texting himself. People do that.

12 posted on 07/30/2009 11:46:40 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (The revolution IS being televised.)
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To: ozzymandus

I have very brief conversations on my cell (except while I’m driving through farm country), so I would hope that no cop would pull me over.


13 posted on 07/30/2009 11:46:53 AM PDT by definitelynotaliberal (So how about, in honor of the American soldier, ya quit making things up? - Gov. Palin)
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To: DustyMoment

14 posted on 07/30/2009 11:46:57 AM PDT by wastedyears (The Tree is thirsty and the hogs are hungry.)
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To: ozzymandus
Every time I see some jackass talking on a phone while driving, I wish I was a cop for about ten minutes. I’d pull them over, smash their phone with my heel, and say “Have a nice day”.

I was stuck behind some jerk in the fast lane last week. I finally found a hole in the right lane and got back into it. As I inched my way by the fast lane blocker I saw he was texting! And totally oblivious to my watching him.

It only took about a second for me to decide to blow my horn.

It scared the hell out of him. His phone went flying too. It seriously made my day.

15 posted on 07/30/2009 11:46:59 AM PDT by VeniVidiVici (ABC-AP-MSNBC-All Obama, All the time.)
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To: ozzymandus

I had a friend who was in traffic sandwiched behind a woman in a car putting makeup on (lipstick and all) with her rearview mirror on her dash. Going 35mph on the freeway ignoring everybody.

Road rage got the better of him and he forced her off the road and gave her a tongue lashing. (I can’t believe she pulled over and stopped) LOL


16 posted on 07/30/2009 11:47:30 AM PDT by Electric Graffiti (Yonder stands your orphan with his gun)
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To: thefactor; Swordmaker
wow. a windows-bashing hijack on the first post! don’t see that everyday.

Yeah. Someone needs to ping Swordmaker.

17 posted on 07/30/2009 11:48:06 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (The revolution IS being televised.)
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To: Wolfie

Series question: What is texting and why is everybody doing it?


18 posted on 07/30/2009 11:48:47 AM PDT by Electric Graffiti (Yonder stands your orphan with his gun)
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To: Wolfie

I’ve been on the road quite a bit lately. One thing I’ve noticed everywhere I go, the person doing something stupid in traffic without exception is on the phone or texting.


19 posted on 07/30/2009 11:48:57 AM PDT by GBA
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To: wastedyears
"Towing two cars adds a whole lot of inertia."

No, it doesn’t.


20 posted on 07/30/2009 11:49:12 AM PDT by I see my hands (_8(|)
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