No Mexican Trucks on our streets! You Can FAX Hammer Congress with this message
today with
http://www.faxdc.comA trucker who plowed his trailer rig into a traffic jam on Interstate 15 last
year killing four people and injuring six was sentenced to four to 24 years in
prison. Milson Sabino Oliveira Filho, 52, sobbed and his body shook as he talked
of his remorse about the crash and said faulty brakes were to blame for the
deaths. "I was about to get off on the Cheyenne exit and at the last minute I
decided not to and lost control of my truck," Oliveira, who speaks Spanish, told
Senior District Judge Charles Thompson through an interpreter.
Could YOUR Family be the Victim of Unsafe Mexican Trucks?
Oliveira, a Mexican trucker, was driving a trailer full of paper pulp from Utah
to Southern California about 9:25 p.m. Nov. 16 when he barreled up behind traffic
that had slowed to a crawl in a construction zone on the southbound side of the
freeway near Cheyenne Avenue. Oliveira said his speed was 50 mph, but Chief
Deputy District Attorney L.J. O'Neale said investigators estimated it was 60 mph.
O'Neale said he believed fatigue also played a role in the crash. Oliveira's
driving logs were inaccurate, but investigators were able to determine that he
had been driving for 7 1/2 more hours than federal regulations allow, O'Neale
said. Federal hours-of-service rules allow interstate commerce truckers to drive
up to 11 hours in any 14-hour shift before they must take 10 consecutive hours
off. Oliveira said his brakes failed him. "I tried to stop the truck by throwing
it against the divider," Oliveira said as he wept. "I kept doing that but it
wouldn't stop."
Thirteen vehicles were part of the pileup in front of Oliveira's truck. The
collision catapulted the car being driven by Robert Allen Newsted Jr., killing
the 31-year-old steel company supervisor. His infant son was strapped into a car
seat and survived the wreck. But everyone in the first vehicle struck by the
18-wheeler died: Arturo Cortez, 69, his wife Estrellita, 64, and their 7-year-old
granddaughter Kayla, who was in the backseat. The truck dragged the Cortezes'
car "for more than 100 feet, leaving, I'm sorry to say, body parts in the road,"
O'Neale said. Virginia resident and U.S. Air Force member Sarah Hamilton used her
jacket to cover Kayla's body, the prosecutor said. Other Air Force personnel who,
like Hamilton, had been driving away from Nellis Air Force Base at the time of
the crash, parked a vehicle on I-15 to block the little girl's body from
traffic, O'Neale said. Kayla's father, Arturo Cortez Jr., was in the courtroom
for Oliveira's sentencing.
Oliveira pleaded guilty to seven counts of reckless driving in exchange for
prosecutors dropping four counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Support HR3074 and Stop the Mexican Trucks!
Already an amendment introduced by three members of the House of Representatives
aims to cut off all funding for any sort of cross-border program with Mexican
motor carriers. Members of the House have begun consideration of HR3074, the
Transportation-HUD appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008. Reps. Peter DeFazio,
D-OR, Duncan Hunter, R-CA, Gary Miller, R-CA, and Nancy Boyda, D-KS, introduced
an amendment to the legislation calling for a stop of all funding for
cross-border trucking programs with Mexico.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
To Fax Blast Capitol Hill, click here:
http://www.faxdc.com/Order.htmIt's time to send a LOUD MESSAGE to our hired hands in D.C.!
It must be done today! America needs your help!
Do your civic duty now from the comfort of your home or office. FAX HAMMER today,
tomorrow will be too late and America will be lost!
What are you waiting for?
Thank You Patriot! Your friends at:
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