A trucking accident involving an oranges-laden tractor trailer led to the death of two construction workers in Maryland, and may have been caused by faulty brakes on the semi in question according to Maryland police.
This is the second time in a month that a tractor trailer from South Florida was involved in an out-of-state accident. According to federal records on the vehicles, there were more than 200 safety violations between them. There really is no way to overstate that — more than 200 violations between these vehicles, and both were involved in major accidents.
In the most recent Maryland accident, 34 year old driver Watson Pierre of Sunrise, Florida was driving a Noble Enterprise Transport semi truck in Maryland. Watson’s truck was notably not registered to operate in Maryland. According to a police examination of the vehicle, three out of ten of the truck’s brakes were actively malfunctioning. Another three were improperly maintained and out of alignment. This means that over half of the vehicle’s brakes were in improper working order.
State police spokesman Greg Shipley stated that Pierre was driving north on state route 75 through Monrovia at the time of the accident. He rounded a curve at a high rate of speed and his truck overturned, crushing a pickup truck which had been heading south. The pickup’s driver, Hector Henriquez of Gaithersburg, Maryland, and passenger Jose Diaz of Derwood both died at the scene as a result of the crash.
A third occupant of the pickup was Jose Cedillo, also of Gaithersberg. He was taken to a hospital for injuries. Erochenel Bernadin of Deerfield Beach, Florida, a passenger in the semi, suffered minor injuries in the crash.
Pierre was charged with two counts of negligent homicide and one count of speeding, according to Maryland state police. A police investigation is ongoing, and they indicated that they did not know for certain whether the faulty brakes caused the accident. Regardless of the actual cause, any time maintenance is so flagrantly neglected it shows a callous disregard for other drivers on the road.
