Driver in highway collapse had criminal record

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC/AP

The driver who crashed a tanker loaded with gasoline and brought down a heavily trafficked highway overpass had a history of criminal activity, including drug and burglary arrests, yet was given a commercial trucker's license.

James Mosqueda, 51, served two years and eight months in prison following a 1996 arrest for heroin possession in Sacramento County, court records show. His criminal rap sheet stretching back to 1981 includes arrests for burglary, felony drug charges and possession of stolen property, according to the California Department of Corrections and the Sacramento County District Attorney's office.

Yet Mosqueda was able to get his commercial truck driver's license because there is nothing in the state's vehicle code that prevents a convicted felon who has served his sentence from working as a truck driver — so long as he has a clear driving record, California Highway Patrol Chief Steve Vaughn said.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18405828/

[IChing]

1. This is interesting

wonder if he made a deal?

[benh57]

2. Lame story

So what, felons aren't even allowed to work as truck drivers now? Give me a break.. this is a great job for ex cons.

Ridiculous story.

[progdonkey]

9. yeah, unless he was high while he was driving, what relevance does it have?

I can see this being a set up to start calling for changes to the law so felons can't even work as truck drivers. After all, there's no better way to cure a man of the urge to steal and do drugs than preventing him from earning an honest living. :sarcasm:

[rodeodance]

32. exactly. People have a right to start over

[alcibiades_mystery]

20. Exactly

This is inflammatory, prejudicial bullshit.

[underpants]

31. Welcome to DU

I wanted to say :hi: and also agree with your short and succinct post.

Wow big surprise a truck driver with a criminal record. Hell anyone with a criminal record isn't all that surprising in this America.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Yeah, but you know, you don't have to be a criminal to have a car accident.

The guy was driving a big truck full of a very explosive, flammable liquid. As long as we insist on powering our cars with that stuff, we will have these kinds of problems from time to time. I understand we're all pissed off and I'm sure lots of folks need to find someone to blame.. but he's hardly the only person who drives like an asshole on the East Bay Freeways.

Frankly, given the remarkably shitty driving I inevitably witness every time I have to go down there, I'm surprised this sort of thing doesn't happen more often.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

40. Same thing happened last week in Houston.

Driver did NOT go around the loop like he was supposed to, carrying a full load of diesel fuel and gasoline, tried to get from one freeway to another, hit the rail, just north of downtown, and basically destroyed two or three overpasses and a roadway from the heat of the fire and explosion.

[Erika]

4. But Weiner Dr. Savage said he was an illegal

Who are we to believe?

[Mind_your_head]

5. So? An ex-felon who's served his time to society has to work somehow

otherwise they'd maybe return to a life of crime?

Driving a truck seems like a good job for someone with a record. This guy's past record doesn't indicate any reason why he shouldn't drive...it's not like he had numerous DUI's in his past or anything.

[Atman]

6. He served his sentence and was a free man...he isn't allowed to work?

What difference does his past criminal record make? You could extend that to say he shouldn't even be allowed to work in a 7-Eleven because there's money in the till. Unless someone is trying to claim he was doing heroin or had the cabbed stuffed with drugs and was trying to outrun the law when he crashed, I just don't see what difference this makes.

.

[RufusTFirefly]

7. Never mind that one crashed truck was able to immobilize millions

Let's start blaming the poor sap in the explosive truck (dare I say, a "lone nut"?) instead of figuring out how to fix things. I feel better already.

[kskiska]

8. Many limousine drivers are felons, too.

These are the guys entrusted with driving rich people and their kids. I had a run-in with a neighbor and had to call the police and the guy had a fit. Turns out he was on parole after doing time for molesting his own kid.

[RamboLiberal]

10. I have no problem with him unless he'd be proven to be

driving impaired, though I'd like to think drivers hauling hazardous & dangerous cargo would be the best drivers and the best paid - the cream of truck drivers.

Some interesting info from another news article:

To receive his state trucker's license, Mosqueda had to pass tests of his vision, his driving performance, his medical condition and his knowledge of driving laws.

He also had to receive clearance from the Transportation Security Administration to carry hazardous materials, a requirement under the USA Patriot Act. Not all felony convictions are grounds for disqualification, said agency spokesman Nico Melendez.

For some crimes, a driver must not have a conviction in the past seven years or have been released from prison in the past five years. Those crimes include drug dealing, assault with intent to murder, kidnapping, rape, illegal gun possession or dealing, identity fraud, smuggling and arson.

There is an additional list of crimes that disqualifies applicants forever. They include murder, espionage and convictions related to terrorism.

"Certainly if someone has a disqualifying crime, they wouldn't be granted the (hazardous materials) endorsement," Melendez said. He said he was not familiar with the particulars of Mosqueda's application.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/30/BAGSNPIHMQ3.DTL

[Peace Patriot]

18. Espionage? You mean George Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Abu Gonzales, who are spying

on everybody all of the time, in defiance of the law, without no court oversight, can't ever drive a truck?

Thank God!

If they drive a truck the way they're running the country, we'd have dead bodies and pileups from one end of the nation's highway system to the other.

So what kind of job should we permit these felonious spymasters to hold, after they've run this country off the cliff?

My favorite punishment for Bushites: A lifetime of community service cleaning bedpans in Veterans' hospitals. (--AND, they to give us back all the money they've stolen.)

---------------------------

"There is an additional list of crimes that disqualifies applicants forever. They include murder, espionage and convictions related to terrorism." --RamboLiberal

[cigsandcoffee]

11. If he was on drugs, and public pressure forces a change of the law...

...it will show how one or two bad felons can spoil things for the good ones. Sad.

[High Plains]

34. Is there any suggestion he was on drugs?

Or are you just whistling hot air?

[cigsandcoffee]

36. Drugs were pretty well represented in his criminal history.

That sure calls for a drug test in the wake of all that criminal property damage, IMO. I wouldn't be surprised to find he was under the influence - would you?

[Sivafae]

12. This seems like a simple case of

"See we knew he was bad!"
There is a reason they call it an accident, because no one meant to do it. People make mistakes. He paid his debt to society. Case closed.
Yeah and people do drive like crap on 880/80. When I was on a motorbike one time and didn't get scared until I was in the East Bay.

[Whoa_Nelly]

13. Guess his driving record is shot to hell now...

:eyes:

[OnyxCollie]

14. I had heard on NPR this morning that he had called a cab to take him to the hospital.

I thought that it was kind of odd to be leaving an accident scene. Why not wait for the authorities?

[Moochy]

15. Shock & Daze

He walked around Oakland city streets in a daze for about 20-25 minutes trying to get help from passers by. He had burns on his hands and face, 2nd and 3rd degree burns and was in severe agony.

No one stopped for him. Eventually he went to go to a gas station near the accident site, to call the cab to get to the hospital, around 2-3 miles away.

[alcibiades_mystery]

21. Because he had second degree burns?

That sorta stings a bit, ya know?

[OnyxCollie]

25. self-delete

[ljm2002]

35. He did not call a cab...

...he walked over a mile before finding a gas station, and there was a cab there getting gas, and he asked the guy to drive him to the hospital. The cabbie did so, and refused payment.

[Alacrat]

16. Why wasn't this caught ahead of time?

Vehicles violence is responsible for more deaths than anything besides natural causes, and smoking, yet a convicted felon, the mentally ill, and in some states, illegal aliens can legally obtain a driver's license, even a class A commercial license with no background check. Sometimes proof of insurance is all that is required by law to obtain one. These licenses also allow drivers to drive from state to state unregulated. This is insanity!

Why would illegal aliens be included in this group? Because we don't know who they are, where they come from, or what their intentions maybe, but in some states they are allowed to obtain a lisc. anyway.

We need a system in place to stop these people from obtaining a driver's license.
We have far more restrictive and in depth checks to own or carry a gun than we do to obtain a driver's license.

A commercial license allows the driver to legally get behind the wheel of a truck which in some cases is nothing more than a giant bomb, as witnessed in the recent accident which brought down a bridge because of the massive firepower the driver was carrying. Currently there are no firearms capable of such devestating destruction.

I purpose we close the unbelievably irresponsible DMV loophole. At present, anyone, even a convicted felon can just renew their drivers license without a background check. Occasionally they have to show proof of insurance,then have their picture taken, and just like that, they are back on the road. This is absurd!

I also believe we should make these large capacity deadly fuel haulers illegal. There is no practical use for one person to be able to carry that much fuel in one tank.

The next time you get into your car, which you have no constitutional right to own or operate, look around you. The amount of vehicles on our streets is staggering, and almost anyone is legally allowed to drive one. There is no need for all these vehicles. IMO, only police and firefighters should be allowed to drive vehicles.
If we are going to allow anyone who feels like they need a car to have one, we should at least limit how fast they will go, and the amount of fuel they can carry. We should also ban all autos with any combination of the following two, a car with more than 4 cylinders, more than two doors, any type of spoiler or rear fin, moon or sun roof, t-tops, convertible top, tires larger than 15", bucket seats, more than a four speed transmission, four stereo speakers, a cigarette lighter, 2 cup holders, any type of media device ie..tape deck, cd player, dvd player, or any item deemed by the local District Attorney that upon his or her discretion presents any possible hazard.

Please help stop the madness of vehicular violence. If you want help starting your own vehicular violence campaign, you can contact us at the following:
USELESS-BS.org
1-800-use-less
If you would like to send donations, please leave the pay to the order of portion of your check blank, or paypal, im me for address and paypal info.

[mainegreen]

17. Wow. Very good! I was actually starting to get mad at you before I reached the end!

:rofl:
Very good indeed!
You *totally* had me going there for a bit.

[FLSurfer]

19. You got me too!

If I hadn't seen MaineGreen's reply, I would've never known as I stopped reading after the first few sentences.
Good one.

[Jackpine Radical]

22. Doesn't driving around with that much gas constitute prima facie

evidence of possession with intent to deliver?

[Alacrat]

27. prima facie. I have no idea what that means

but it sounds bad, so I will use it in our stop vehicular violence fight, and as a USELESS-BS.org talking point.

We need to get the word out. Please keep'em coming. If you have any info we can use
in the war to stop vehicular violence, please add it to this thread.
We made up an email address USELESS-BS.org and toll free phone number 1-800-USE-LESS,
but neither are currently in service. We are currently waiting on at least one donation in order to get the ball rolling. If everyone would send $5, we would have $5 from everyone. I, I mean we could accomplish a lot with that much money.

Thank you for your support,
and remember,

Keep up the fight!

if we lose,....... well

..............we lose.

and, we don't want to lose.

[Jackpine Radical]

30. In order to understand prima facie, you have to contrast it with

GWB, who is a primo fascist.

[RandomKoolzip]

33. Why do I get the feeling this campaign will get stalled?

Have fun jump-starting the anti-automobile movement! Happy motoring! :hi:

Oh, and good one.

[treestar]

23. If he's out of jail, give him full rights, otherwise, keep him in jail

We don't need a bunch of people roaming around free with no stake in our society and no chance to succeed.

This type of "problem" is BS. The accident could have occurred in any number of circumstances.

Let's decide what the punishment for crimes is, and when the punishment is over, leave it alone.

[slackmaster]

24. Convicted felons - Doing the jobs other Americans don't want to do

Unless his drug usage can be connected logically with the crash, I don't see any relevance at all.

Commercial movers, longshoremen, cab drivers, and swimming pool cleaners all have higher than average rates of criminal convictions. We keep felons from working at banks and teaching young children for sound logical reasons. But a felon who isn't in jail has to work somewhere.

[bleedingheart]

26. Proving once again that we are not a forgiving society

what are ex-cons supposed to do?

He did his time...and if this problem was unrelated to his past...why is it being brought up?

Loads of people are involved in accidents, ex-cons and not...

[ohio2007]

28. I take it this was his first moving violation ?

My question is did he lie on his CDL license application?

[thecrow]

29. Folks, it's terra plain and simple....

his name is mosQUEDA
Imagine if his first name was AL.

[lonestarnot]

37. Well was he drugged up when he "had the explosion?" LOL

Because if not I really don't give a fuck.

[ProudDad]

38. Just as it SHOULD BE...

"there is nothing in the state's vehicle code that prevents a convicted felon who has served his sentence from working as a truck driver — so long as he has a clear driving record"

Access to a commercial license should NOT be blocked by anything as irrelevant as the charge he did time for...especially a possession charge in the phony drug war. There's no direct cause and effect relationship between serving time for a (fucked up) heroin possession charge years ago and the accident on the overpass.

It's probably true that he was going too fast for the curve or maybe he was sleepy since it was at 3am. It's also possible that there was a mechanical cause.

What's NOT likely is that just serving time in the 90s or being an ex-con had ANY direct cause in this accident.


-------

On Edit: I had a very good friend a few years ago. He used to be a heroin addict. For 18 years he was a conductor on the railroad (think captain of an airliner). Never had a problem. As long as a heroin addict can get their heroin without having to sweat it or steal for it, they function quite well. Another good case for decriminalizing.

I'm not even SUGGESTING that this guy was high on heroin. My guess is number 2 above -- he dozed off.

[JVS]

39. so?

[AlCzervik]

41. unless his pee test comes back positve this is a non story.

[ohio2007]

43. was such a test given when he got out of the cab and went into the ER ?

ANybody know if the attending physicians gave the guy any prescription meds that could lead to a false positive - or....cover his azz ?
Seems the bay area would like to know a lot more about this inconvenient traffic snafu

[MGKrebs]

42. If felons aren't going to be allowed to work,

we'll have to make all felonies life sentences with no parole.

One mistake, BAM!, you're done for life.