Captain Sid

The life you save might be mine



THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PITTSBURGH -- A truck driver who improperly hitched a wood-chipper to his vehicle was sentenced Tuesday to nine to 18 months in jail for causing a crash that killed a father and two of his triplets.

The wood-chipper broke free from Bradley Demitras' truck on a busy highway, rolled across the median and slammed into the family's minivan.

"All I can say is I am sorry," Demitras said. "I know that sounds like the hollowest thing in the world, but I am sorry."

After his sentence, Demitras must prominently display a picture of the accident scene in his home, Allegheny County Judge Lester Nauhaus ruled. He must also serve six years' probation.

Demitras, 35, of Pine Township, could have faced more than 17 years in prison. He pleaded guilty in March to three counts of involuntary manslaughter and other charges and acknowledged that the wood-chipper wasn't properly hooked up to his truck before he left work on April 13, 2006.

Prosecutors said Demitras was speeding when the wood-chipper flew into the opposing lanes, killing Spencer Morrison, 37, of Cranberry and 4-year-olds Alaina and Garrett. Demitras also pleaded guilty to one count of reckless endangerment for critically injuring their children's sibling, Ethan.

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neckbone

I completely agree. I came about 2 inches from loosing my father 5 years ago, because a landscaper didn't take 5 extra seconds to hook up the chains on his trailer. The tongue of the trailer ended up right between the headrests in his F150. I didn't loose him, but he did loose the last 5 years of his career.

Check, then double check how your trailer is hooked up. It takes less than a minute to check it twice. Not much time if it prevents the loss of a life.

Garett

How sad...... .......I don't even want to think about the fall out of the loses.

Doing the safety chains up is one thing, far to often I see the chains not heavy enough to do the job they were designed to do.....make sure those safety chains on your trailers are heavy enough to more than handle the job!

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rayteagarden1

Captain Sid,

Kinda ironic you should post this at this time. Yesterday wife and I went fishing at a local lake about 15 miles from home, fishing lousy but a great day on the water nonetheless.

Got home after the trip and unhooked the trailer and got out my keys to unlock the ball mount hitch pin lock to remove the ball mount from my truck when to my amazement the pin was still in the receiver but the lock on the end of the pin was gone.

I can only assume that when I put the lock on the end of the pin that morning I just didn’t push it on until it clicked, so it just vibrated off somewhere between home and the lake.

If the “pin“ (see photo below) had vibrated out I might have been in a heck of a fix, albeit safety changed on, it could have been exciting to say the least.





Ray, Tennessee 2180DLX Carolina Skiff 90HP Honda