2 fatal crashes, yet still licensed
Twice in six months, a truck driver from Mansfield veered off an interstate and struck and killed a person standing alongside the highway.
The second time, police say, Doug A. Jones, 78, ran through caution cones and fatally struck Teresa “Tessie” Howell. She was working along Route 33 just north of Post Road in Union County, unloading a flatbed truck containing replacement guardrail.
Relatives of Howell, a 24-year-old single mother of two boys ages 4 and 6 from Huron County, want to know why Jones hasn’t been criminally charged with her death — and why he still has an Ohio driver’s license despite his commercial Howell license having been revoked after the second crash.
“One time can be called an accident,” said Paula Tolliver, Howell’s grandmother. “But he should’ve been more cautious after the first. I wouldn’t have been able to drive at all if I did it.”
Tolliver was referring to the July 2, 2018, crash along Interstate 81 in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, in which Jones struck and killed a man who was standing in the berm near his disabled truck. Jones was convicted of careless driving causing a death, plus other charges, but the penalties were equivalent to traffic tickets, said Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Justin Summa.
And Jones didn’t lose his commercial license after that crash.
Then on Dec. 7, 2018, Jones was driving a 2004 Kenworth truck hauling 34 tons of supplies for Abbott Nutrition when he fatally struck Howell. The estimated 70-mph impact threw her more than 50 feet. “She had trauma to every part of her body,” said Union County Coroner David Applegate.
Jones didn’t stop, telling police who found him on the
South Side that he didn’t know he had hit anything.
In the Pennsylvania crash, in-cab video showed Jones appearing alert and singing to himself just before impact, Summa said. Jones, he said, showed little remorse.
Jones could not be reached for comment.
Legally, with six points on his record, he’s still allowed to drive. However, his license to drive a commercial vehicle was revoked after the second crash, after he was deemed an “imminent hazard” by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
“Your continued operation of a (commercial motor vehicle) substantially increases the likelihood of serious injury or death to you and the motoring public if not discontinued immediately,” the Dec. 27 ruling states.
Revoking a commercial license is a separate process from revoking an operator’s license, said Lt. Robert Sellers, spokesman for the State Highway Patrol, which
reported Howell’s death to the federal agency.
“Until he is proven guilty, there isn’t a mechanism for the courts or the state to revoke his license,” Sellers said.
“It’s still legally like it didn’t happen,” said Dublin lawyer Tom Martello, whose firm deals with truck crashes. “There’s a reason why it’s harder for truck drivers to get their license and easier for them to lose it.”
“I don’t understand why he’s not behind bars right now,” Tolliver said of Jones.
“This is a complicated case, so it’s important for us to get it done right rather than get it done quickly,” said Tom Morgan, deputy chief of the Union County sheriff’s office.
Union County Prosecutor David Phillips said he is waiting for the trucking company Estep Express in Mansfield to provide Jones’ employment records to help determine, “was he negligent or was he reckless in his operation and causing the death.” That will determine whether misdemeanor or felony charges are filed.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration also is investigating.
“We have jurisdiction for the workers that were exposed on the road,” said Larry Johnson, area director for OSHA. “You can’t just wrap these up overnight. I’m looking at it from a workplace-safety issue in general ... to ensure that every man and woman goes home the way they came to work.”
Howell loved hunting and fishing and anything outdoors, Tolliver said. She bagged her first deer last year and was extremely proud.
Howell had lived with Tolliver at times since childhood on the family’s 100-acre property in northern Ohio.
When Howell heard about the job opening at Lake Erie Construction Co. a couple of years ago, she grabbed it, drawn to the freedom of outdoor work.
“She outworked some of the men,” Tolliver said.