Family Angered By Race Night Accident Response
AP Graphic
Published: August 23, 2008
Updated: August 23, 2008
BRISTOL, Va. – Deborah Sue Daniels emerged from six hours of emergency surgery just before dawn Friday with a ventilator tube snaked into her mouth, a patched kidney, and minus her spleen.
The 40-year-old Bristol, Tenn., woman had been caught under the wheel of a tractor-trailer cab as it inched into position to back under a parked trailer on State Street.
It was the close of Food City Family Race Night around 9 p.m. Thursday, and Daniels was among the vendors busily collapsing tents and packing away displays. She apparently failed to see the truck at her back as she knelt to wrestle with her own display tent.
Bristol, Va., police called it a freak accident with no one to blame. But Daniels’ father, Charlie J. Smith, of Kingsport, Tenn., argues that someone should be held accountable for her cracked ribs and punctured lung. It’s too early to tell whether Daniels, a writer for local magazine The Loafer, will make a full recovery. She is being treated at the Bristol Regional Medical Center.
“It took three people just to get her out!” Smith said by telephone on Friday. “I just couldn’t believe they didn’t charge this guy with anything or give him a drug test.”
Operating the rig was Gregory Anthony Hunchuck, a driver for Speedway Children’s Charities, headquartered at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. The charity, with a branch in Bristol, Tenn., collects donations through its racing connection and distributes the money to non-profit organizations.
Officials for Speedway Children’s Charities could not be reached at their headquarters on Friday. A secretary who answered the phone said they were all in Bristol for this weekend’s races.
Hunchuck, 43, of Harrisburg, N.C., drove away from the accident with a declaration of innocence by police, mainly because Daniels was below the driver’s line of sight at the time. Police ruled no reckless driving was involved.
In fact, the police report notes that “no improper action” was taken by Hunchuck.
Also, police wrote that Hunchuck “had not been drinking,” even though neither an alcohol or drug test were administered.
“If we thought for one minute he was intoxicated or anything, we would have taken appropriate action on it,” Capt. Maynard Ratcliff told the Bristol Herald Courier on Friday.
Smith disagrees.
He argues that police should have tested for alcohol simply because a tractor-trailer was involved.
“That’s what’s really aggravating me about the police department,” Smith said. “The whole thing was not normal ... it’s like a cover-up the way I see it.”
He pointed to federal regulations that control the commercial driver’s license needed to pilot a tractor-trailer.
But those regulations mandate automatic testing only for fatal trucking accidents, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The law forces the driver’s employer, and not the police, to conduct the test and submit the results for federal review.
The federal law leaves the police to call the shots based on local laws.
With Daniels’ case, where she needed medical help on the spot, Hunchuck would have to be tested only if he had been ticketed by police.
“The employer has the prerogative to do it, but it’s not mandatory,” FMCSA spokesman Duane DeBruyne said.
For now, Smith will settle for an apology from Hunchuck or anyone with Speedway Children’s Charities.
By Friday afternoon, Daniels was breathing without the ventilator and had mouthed some words, her dad said.
Yet there had been no sign at the hospital of anyone associated with the charity.
“I’m still having a hard time coping with that, that they don’t show an interest in my daughter,” he said.
| (276) 645-2549
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
For everyone’s information I was there. Mrs. Daniels was on the Virginia side at the sidewalk. The truck driver was connecting to a trailor on the Tennessee side and pulled forward at an angle towards Mrs. Daniels and caught her with his right front bumper then tire. The truck driver should have waited untill it was less congested and then connected to the trailor. End of story!!
Excellent life lesson here kids. If you value your life, don’t crouch down in front of a running 18 wheeler. People need to take responsibility for their own stupid acts and not blame others when dollar signs flash in their eyes. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Deborah is my cousin and as I read the comments from people it made me physically ill. How can you post such horrible things about someone that you do not know? Like saying she is a moron?
Deborah was working at the tent that she was untying, There were signs posted that prohibited trucks from being back there.
Now, she is fighting for her life and will be recovering for a long time.
It would be nice to have some encouragement and kind words from others in the community but we aren’t getting that. It makes me very sad to think that this is the people in my hometown community.
Commom sense 101 !
When you driving a truck with blind spots. You get out of your truck and walk around it espically if there is a crow near by or there has been a lot of foot traffice recently.
I drove too long and have awakened people who passed out drunk near trailors and behind trailors at these community festivles. I even found a lady collasped once going into labor who was totally exhausted and dehydrated she could hardly talk little lone scream for help. If I had continued backing to the trailor changes are I would have squashed her into the wall.
In New York and some other areas of the country getting out of the truck anymore than needed can be dangerous. But it is common knowledge that we have homeless people in this country and that is why I always did a walk around.
Accident do happen but most of us still take that change and know the pentalies too.
It is easy for everyone to automatically jump to say that the truck driver had to do something wrong since he is a professional driver and should be more responsible than your average driver or citizen. But what has happened to people being responsible when they do something that leads to their own problems or injuries? When you are in the front area of a trailer and there are trucks trying to connect to those trailers, wouldn’t a reasonable person think that kneeling down so you are invisible wouldn’t be a wise thing? When you read the booklet they give you to study to get a driver’s license they warn you about the blind spots a truck has, but yet every day thousands of people want to drive, sit, stand and park in those blind spots. Truck manufacturers, trucking companies and truck drivers take many steps to eliminate blind spots, and when they cannot be totally eliminated they do what they can to provide mirrors that allow the truck driver to see into what would otherwise be blind spots. But no amount of engineering, or addition of mirrors will totally eliminate blind spots on trucks and trailers. I am sorry that this lady had to suffer her injuries, and am thankful that she is improving. But her actions put her in the position that she was in. The police, who have more information than anyone reading all of the articles written on this incident, ruled that it was an accident and there was no wrongdoing on the part of the driver; so who are we with limited information to say they are wrong? Maybe this incident, and the reporting on it, will make more average citizens aware of the dangers they put themselves in when they want to drive, park, stand or sit in the blind spots of any vehicle much less those in large trucks. A refresher reading of the drivers handbook by many would be a good idea to remind them of the rules of the road, and what they should and shouldn’t do around all types of vehicles. Then maybe many won’t be quick to blame the truck driver for the problems on the road, and put the blame where it is almost always falls; on drivers who are not paying attention to their actions and violating traffice laws.
sounds like to me that SHE was at fault..but someone is already looking to make money out of it. SHE wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing. The truck driver couldn’t see her. That’s the end of it as far as I can see.
You should not back any vehicle if you don’t know whats behind you, but racing is king in Bristol. By showing no concern for Ms Daniels means they don’t care. This could have been avoided with a little common sense. This was no accident.
I am actually shocked that great numbers of people are not killed or maimed during the race. This bunch of obnoxious, hateful, snotty, trash spreaders called race fans drive here like they own the roads. I went to Blountville twice wednesday and nearly got ran over three different times by race fans(out of state tags)
I wonder too why our tax dollars are spent with all the grooming of the right of ways just before the race. It does not matter to race fans if it is clean or not, they are just going to trash it up. I wish the race track would just go away!!
After this incident I’ve heared at least twice about Speedway Children’s Charities on the news. I’m sure they make a difference in a child’s life but they need to make a difference here and pay this women’s medical bill’s and work missed. Also they need to get rid of this driver. I was there and seen this women being put on a backboard with a c-collar. There was no need for this driver to be driving like that. Rumor was he was trying to hurry and hook up to make the hauler parade. They need to be the last to leave to prevent this from happening in the future and at least someone there to help spot them backing up and pulling foward.
Sorry to hear that the lady was injured. I wish a speedy and complete recovery.
“It took three people just to get her out!” Smith said by telephone on Friday. “I just couldn’t believe they didn’t charge this guy with anything or give him a drug test.”
Giving someone a drug test just because they had an accident is an unacceptable privacy violation and is not appropriate unless the driver gave clear, unmistakable signs of intoxication.
Capt. Ratcliff did the right thing. Accidents happen. Intoxication witch hunts don’t belong in a free society.
None of us were there and we don’t know if the injured party may have put them self in harm’s way. Daniels may have been intoxicated herself. Should she be tested too?
As I said, I hope she recovers fully.
Advertisement