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Accidents and crimes

By Jeff Terrill

Fort Wayne Reader

2018-02-03

Accidents happen. And so do crimes.

Meet Mike. Mike is a hard working owner of a small painting business. He is married with three kids. Mike isn’t a real person.

Mike owns two work trucks. Mike drives one truck and he lets one of his best painters, Steve, drive the other one (Steve isn’t a real person either). Steve notices that the truck’s brakes aren’t working well. He tells Mike and Mike informs him that he’ll take a look. Mike switches trucks with Steve for the day.
The next day Mike tells Steve that he just needs to push down harder on the brakes.

A couple of days later, Steve again notices that the brakes are barely working. Steve manages to coast the truck to the side of the road. Steve calls Mike and tells him that the brakes don’t work. Steve is expecting Mike to call a tow truck and offer to pick up Steve. Instead, Mike explains that he’s busy at a job site and that he can’t deal with it right now. Mike tells Steve to turn off the truck’s engine, pump the brakes a few times and drive over to Mike’s job site.

On his way to Mike’s house, the brakes again fail as Steve approaches a busy intersection. The light is red. Steve panics. He can’t get the truck stopped. Steve swerves but his truck plows into the side of a car pinning it against a telephone pole.

When Steve gets out of the truck he realizes that the car he hit is partially under the truck’s two front tires. No one is moving inside the car. Steve sees blood everywhere.

Other people try to help. Police officers and medics arrive. Steve is in shock. He feels like things are moving in slow motion. He explains to an officer that the truck’s brakes stopped working. Steve also explains to the officer that he knew the brakes were bad but that his boss told him to keep driving.
The next day, Steve learns that the driver of the other vehicle did not survive. The other two occupants are seriously injured. Steve is arrested and charged with reckless homicide, involuntary manslaughter and criminal recklessness.

Mike is also arrested and charged with several crimes. While at the jail, Steve is emotionally distraught. He tells the officers that he never intended to hurt anyone.

Accidents happen. And so do crimes.

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Jeff Terrill is a partner/shareholder with the law firm of Arnold Terrill Anzini, P.C. Mr. Terrill represents clients accused of crimes throughout northeast Indiana. You can contact Mr. Terrill with any questions or comments at his office at 260.420.7777 or via email at jterrill@fortwaynedefense.com. Learn more about his firm at www.fortwaynedefense.com. This article expressed opinions and observations of the author, is not intended as legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the author and the reader. Please consult a qualified attorney with any legal questions or issues you might have. Thank you.