Driver in Bus Blast Avoids Indictment

washington post ^ | 11/14/05 | AP

[clee1]

This was probably just; however, the bus company faces serious civil problems due to poor equipment.

[CindyDawg]

I don't see how they can charge the people that leased the bus either.

[txroadkill]

I think they may be facing Criminal charges

[sockmonkey]

I'm glad the Grand Jury didn't indict him. I was horrified when he was arrested.

[AndrewC]

Officials at the Mexican Consulate in Houston expect Robles to be released on bond by Tuesday. He has been detained as a material witness in the investigation and still faces immigration charges for being in the United States illegally.

Doing one of those jobs ....

[clee1]

If, as was reported, the wheels and brakes were throwing off sparks, which ignited the O2-rich atmosphere in the bus; the prosecutor can make a case for neglegent homicide, or an attorney can make a case that the company didn't exercise due caution.

Whatever. In any case, this wasn't the driver's fault.

[CrawDaddyCA]

Glad to hear it, I've always been disturbed by the LEO tactic of arresting someone and charging them with a crime that they know won't stick when it goes before a grand jury.

Let's face it, a person can be arrested at any time, based on trumped up charges...all for the purpose of putting you in some database for later reference. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.

[clee1]

Maybe. If anyone is to blame here, it is the owner of the bus; not the driver.

[txroadkill]

absolutely, I remember hearing earlier that that bus had failed inspection so the owners put plates on it from another bus.

While I was in college, I worked for a Limo company here in Dallas and worked with a lot of those bus companies and almost none of the drivers were licensed or even trained to drive those motor coaches.

[sharkhawk]

I don't know. At first I agreed with you, but aren't commercial drivers responsible for their vechicles? Of course he was an illegal, so probably wasn't properly licensed for driving a bus.

[Jeff Chandler]

Both the driver and the owner are responsible.

[JLS]

I don't see how they can charge the people that leased the bus either.
_______________________________________________

The modern American "justice" system. The cardinal rule is someone must always be at fault so LEO and lawyers can strut in front of cameras.

For example, had the bus driver refused to evacuate the people because he felt their oxygen tanks were unsafe and some of the died in the storm, the likely would have taken charges to the grand jury for that. The key is that in modern anti-capitalist America if you are in business you must be guilty of something, how else could you be making money not as a lawyer.

[SuziQ]

the bus company faces serious civil problems due to poor equipment.

From what I understand, it wasn't the bus company's fault at all. The explosion happened because of the the oxygen containers belonging to some of the patients. I don't know what caused them to blow, but AFAIK, it didn't have anything to do with the bus, the bus company, or the driver.

[stinkerpot65]

Prosecutors in this country are worse than the criminals.

[anymouse]

The explosion happened because of the the oxygen containers belonging to some of the patients. I don't know what caused them to blow, but AFAIK, it didn't have anything to do with the bus, the bus company, or the driver.

Yes, you are correct - you don't know what caused this fatal fire. One thing is for sure, it wasn't the Oxygen containers. Apparently you don't know much about combustion or oxygen containers either.

there needs to be an exposed fuel source (gasoline) and a heat and/or spark in the presence of an oxidizer (fresh air will do.)

The Oxygen bottles were caught in the fire as were the patents. Upon being consumed in the fire, the plastic tubing carrying the Oxygen caught fire and/or melted exposing the fire to a steady stream of pure Oxygen, thus increasing the temperature of the fire, which eventually consumed the Oxygen bottle melting the valves, thus releasing a burst of the bulk of the Oxygen making the fire burn even more intently.

The short answer is that the Oxygen canisters did not cause the fire (no matter how much the lame-stream media tell you so), but having the Oxygen canisters in the middle of a fire sure made it a more intense fire, that combined with immobile riders and insufficient assistance, turned deadly.

[anymouse]

The bus driver had a responsibility to inspect the bus before loading up the passengers and driving the bus.

We still don't know what the root cause of the fire was, but we can assume that it had a leaky fuel tank and that something caused the leaking fumes to ignite.

Most likely the fuel leak existed when the bus started its trip. The driver should have noticed a strong gas oder.

It might have been as simple as the driver leaving the gas cap off the filler and a careless passing driver tossing a cigarette too close to the venting filler opening of the bus. If so both the bus driver and the cigarette tosser should be held negligent in the resulting deaths.

[JLS]

We still don't know what the root cause of the fire was, but we can assume that it had a leaky fuel tank and that something caused the leaking fumes to ignite.
_________________________________________

I don't always click through and read the article either. I sometimes still generally comment. But I try to hide it when I have not bothered to read the article.

What the article says is:

"...[the bus] caught fire Sept. 23 from a malfunctioning back wheel."

So I guess your assumpiton just went up in smoke?

[anymouse]

"...[the bus] caught fire Sept. 23 from a malfunctioning back wheel."

Yes, that is what I remember the lame-stream media reporting back when it happened, along with obviously false the "Oxygen bottles did it" theory.

I can see a possible drum brake lock up causing a tire to catch fire, but how can a wheel malfunction and cause a fire?

Maybe even broken springs and/or shocks could have allowed the tire to rub on the wheel well and maybe causing a friction induced fire, but that would have happened much sooner in the trip.

I still think we don't know enough about what actually caused the fire to rule out at least negligence on the part of the bus driver.

[gubamyster]

ping