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Truck Accidents
Riverside Fire Fighter Crash Due to Defective Truck Design
July 27, 2007
Defective truck design and a faulty weight distribution mechanism may have caused the death of a Riverside County firefighter on August 6, 2005. The Los Angeles Times in its July 26 edition reported that investigations now reveal that the flawed design of the truck caused it to careen out of control resulting in the death of 23-year-old firefighter Christopher Kanton.
On the day of the fateful crash, Michael Arizaga was driving two fellow fire firefighters on a call to a home in Beaumont, California. Road conditions were nasty due to a sudden rainstorm, and Arizaga had to drive a backup engine that he had never driven before because his usual truck was out for repairs. As he rounded a curve the truck careened out of control and overturned, skidding across three lanes of traffic and hitting a drainage pipe and some trees before falling down a mud covered embankment. Arizaga suffered severe injury, but survived. Kanton wasn't as lucky - he was thrown out of the open window, hit by the truck, and killed.
Manslaughter charges were initially filed against Arizaga. But last Wednesday the Riverside County District Attorney's office announced that it was dropping the charges after defense investigations revealed a long list of defective design problems in the 1987 Spartan engine. Expert witnesses for the defense included a physics professor, who was willing to testify that the weight distribution mechanism of the truck caused it to be skid prone thereby causing the tragic accident. Officials at Spartan declined to comment, but you can expect that this won't be the last you hear of this story. Gross negligence by corporate America is something all citizens have become tiresomely familiar with - from dangerous toys to faulty vehicles. It's shameful that a public servant was put through hell for an accident, which as it turns out was due to the negligent and defective design of the engine in question.
At The Reeves Law Group, our personal injury lawyers have substantial expertise with cases in which injuries have been caused by a defective product or service. If you've experienced a similar situation or know some one who has call our California law offices for a consultation.
