‘Death sentence’
Hauler sues for license, blames mowdown vics
A private Bronx carting firm behind two deaths last year demands the de Blasio administration reinstate its license and blames the fatalities on the two victims, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.
Sanitation Salvage contends that the Business Integrity Commission’s emergency license suspension last week was unfair because the company was never given any opportunity to defend itself after one of its drivers was behind the wheel during both accidents.
“That it now faces a death sentence as a licensed business before even being afforded any hearing, in violation of every norm of due process, is simply beyond the pale,” the company argues in an Article 78 lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Hours after the case was filed, a judge denied the firm’s request for an immediate temporary restraining order to block the city’s license suspension.
The family-owned company, and the city’s oversight of private garbage haulers, has come under intense criticism after the two deadly crashes in the past year.
Sanitation Salvage driver Sean Spence, 33, allegedly lied to cops about his initial deadly crash on Nov. 7. Spence told officers that Mouctar Diallo, 27, an off-thebooks worker who was assisting on his route, was a lunatic homeless man who suddenly jumped on the side of his rig, according to police sources.
Diallo fell from the truck’s side and was crushed to death under its wheels on Jerome Ave. near E. Gun Hill Road in Norwood, police said.
In January, Spence’s lie surfaced as advocates for organized labor highlighted issues with the private carting industry.
But he was allowed to keep his license — and three months later was involved in another fatal crash on April 27. Spence ran over Leon Clark on E. 152nd St. near Jackson Ave. in Morrisania, according to police.
Earlier this month, the city barred Spence from driving garbage trucks in the city ever again.
On Monday, Sanitation Salvage defended Spence’s actions, noting a sobriety test at the scene of the first crash showed he was sober. The death was deemed “pedestrian error” by the NYPD, the firm added.
Diallo, the victim, “had cocaine, cannabinoids, and ethanol in his system during this collision,” the suit noted.
As for the second death, Spence wasn’t able to see Clark “crossing the road due both to the height of the cab of the truck relative to the pedestrian and because the pedestrian was not crossing at a marked crosswalk,” the court papers say.
Sanitation Salvage handles approximately 2.5 million pounds of trash on average each week. The firm uses teams of two or three to collect all the refuse.
The company is “proud to be considered a ‘secondchance employer’” that hires people with criminal records or homeless. The firm also “strictly regulates its truck driving fleet and has various checks in place,” the lawsuit said.
A city audit of the company found that its trucks have been involved in 58 collisions since March 2016. Those crashes injured 11 people and damaged property six times, the audit said.
Overall, investigators found “systemic safety issues,” including excessive working hours and unsafe trucks.