Posted on 08/03/2005 9:41:59 AM PDT by nutmeg
Driver Had Troubled Past
Difficulties Handling Heavy-Duty Trucks Helped Get Him Fired From One Company Days Before Avon Crash; Then Another Company Hired Him
By DAVE ALTIMARI, DANIEL P. JONES, And EDMUND H. MAHONY Courant Staff Writers
The driver of the dump truck involved in Friday's crash on Avon Mountain had been fired from another trucking company three days earlier because of unreliable work habits and improper operation of one of that company's vehicles.
Abdulraheem Naafi, 41, who according to a friend lived until recently at an Asylum Hill apartment in Hartford, picked up his last $432 paycheck from Lyons Trucking of Bloomfield Thursday night, company owner Nevelle Lyons said.
At the time of the crash, Naafi also was facing charges of drug possession, third-degree criminal trespassing and interfering/resisting arrest, according to state police records. He had a criminal record dating to the mid-1980s.
Naafi began working at American Crushing & Recycling LLC of Bloomfield on Wednesday, the day after he was fired from Lyons Trucking. On Friday morning, he drove off to his new assignment: hauling fill from a construction site in West Hartford to a subdivision on Deercliff Road in Avon, at the top of Avon Mountain.
(Excerpt) Read more at courant.com ...
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Thanks again for the heads up on this article.
Wow, he sure missed that turn onto Deercliff. It's clear he didn't know what he was doing; he should have downshifted or ditched into the woods before it got too out of control. The Courant is making the case easy for the plaintiffs' lawyers, by the way.
He lived in an apartment on "Asylum Hill"? Wow. Is that ever appropriate for Mr. Naafi!
Don't ask this guy a lift!
Maybe his actions were purposeful..
"Abdulraheem Naafi" aka "Terry Stokes".
That crossed my mind also, and that's been discussed here on local talk radio. Perhaps time will tell...
fyi
He sure did... I can't believe that was his destination. What the heck was he doing going down Avon Mtn. into Avon???
I'm thinking racial profiling here.....seems he didn't know much about driving a truck, semi, etc.....
Even tho he is wanted on other changes, makes me wonder WHY he was here???
"Wow, he sure missed that turn onto Deercliff. It's clear he didn't know what he was doing; he should have downshifted or ditched into the woods before it got too out of control."
If you drive a tri-axle dump truck in CT for any of the major haulers, you better look the other way as they load your truck 20,000 pounds over the limit. Otherwise you'll not be driving for them the next day.
My brother drove this same route a few months ago (different carrier)...and just got tired of driving around with 90,000 pounds of dirt and no brakes. It finally got to him and he quit.
If the State actually cared about the REAL deal pertaining to this...they'd weigh these tri-axles in spot checks.
Not claiming to have the answers, but I think this part is interesting, considering there were transmission parts strewn on the road.
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