[scania]

Testimony is underway in the trial of a Florida man charged with driving his eighteen wheeler into a car and killing four family members after their Lincoln burst into flames.

Stewart Stewart is charged with four counts of manslaughter in the December 28, 2005 collision on the College Street overpass of Interstate 10 in Beaumont. Investigators say traffic was backed up because of construction on the Neches River Bridge when Stewart's truck crashed into the Lincoln Town Car.

A family of four traveling from Houston back home to Breaux Bridge, Louisiana died in the collision. Joseph Singleton, 52; his wife, Dorothy, 45; Weston Singleton, 76; and Clifton Singleton, 87, were killed at the scene. The family was returning to Breaux Bridge, Louisiana from Houston.

Prosecutors allege Stewart was traveling too fast and didn't keep a proper lookout.

Stewart's attorney, Dan Packard, is questioning the accident reconstruction and says Stewart was traveling two miles per hour below the 65 mph speed limit. Packard says Stewart failed to see the stalled vehicles in time, but contends it wasn't a crime.

If convicted, Stewart faces up to 20 years in prison on each count.

Jennifer Heathcock is covering the trial. Watch KFDM News at 5, 6 & 10 for more on the story.

[greg3564]

No excuse for this. Pay attention and look ahead. Obviously he was in la la land and was not aware of his surroundings. Not to mention he's sitting higher up than the average driver and has much better forward visibility. Hope he has fun in prison.

[scania]

I live in this area and remembered when it happened,my heart goes out to those people who lost their lives and their family members but one thing that bothers me about this I know the exact spot where it happened,that backup was on the opposite side of the bridge that man didn't have no way of knowing that,I don't know if y'all ever travel I10 around Beaumont and La. but in my book they have some serious problems over there for one the speed limit in that accident area should be dropped down to at least 55 mph,the poor guy was crying his heart out in court,I may have a lot of people disagree with me on this but I don't think it's right that they're trying to hang that truck driver,there should be speed limit signs over these blindside overpasses.
The state is doing a piss poor job on our highway system around here.

[scania]

Originally Posted by greg3564

No excuse for this. Pay attention and look ahead. Obviously he was in la la land and was not aware of his surroundings. Not to mention he's sitting higher up than the average driver and has much better forward visibility. Hope he has fun in prison.

I know what you're saying and I couldn't imagine it being my family,in fact I tell my wife all the time avoid I-10 at all cost if you go somewhere.
Between Beaumont and Orange there IS gonna be at least one wreck a day there some drivers who go thru here can probably back me up on this.
I'm telling you man this one dangerous stretch of highway they created here.

[chuck3507]

I don't know the facts of the situation but a simple lack of attention is not a crime in my opinion. If the driver was speeding, over hos, or had faulty equipment then it would be a crime. Backups on that stretch of road can pop up out of nowhere anyways.

[Fozzy]

Originally Posted by chuck3507

I don't know the facts of the situation but a simple lack of attention is not a crime in my opinion. If the driver was speeding, over hos, or had faulty equipment then it would be a crime. Backups on that stretch of road can pop up out of nowhere anyways.

Yeah.. who would have possibly foreseen traffic backups in a construction zone?

[greg3564]

Originally Posted by Fozzy

Yeah.. who would have possibly foreseen traffic backups in a construction zone?

Yeah...with all of those big orange signs posted a couple miles ahead. I can see how a "simple lack of attention is not a crime." Chuck3507 might have a different perspective if it were his family that were wiped out by a "simple lack of attention."

Chuck3507 - "Officer, what happened, who did this?"

Officer- "Just a professional truck driver who had a simple lack of attention in a construction zone and he slammed into your loved ones at 63 mph with an 80,000 pound truck. No biggie"

Chuck3507- "Whew! I'm glad to know that! Tell the driver to not worry about it."

[Cluggy619]

I hear about stories all of the time.

Lack of attention is a crime if you kill someone because your too stupid to pay attention.

Truck drivers like this one need to be removed off the road.

Just my opinion. I could be wrong.

"lack of attention" = fell asleep at the wheel because he was driving/working past legal hours to make his crappy trucking job pay somewhat decent at the end of the week.

That's why we need EOBR's. I hope they lock him up and throw away the key.

[coalregion]

Originally Posted by scania

the poor guy was crying his heart out in court

Makes you wonder if it was because of what he did, or because he realizes his azz is more than likely headed to jail for a decent amount of time....:shock: