Guilty plea in disc jockey's death
Posted on 12/20/2002 2:32:13 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
Guilty plea in disc jockey's death
12/20/2002
A 40-year-old truck driver pleaded guilty Friday to negligent homicide charges in the traffic death of a Dallas radio personality last spring.
In a plea bargain reached with prosecutors, Linden Kerrick Berry of Richland, Texas, received 3 years' probation and a $1,500 fine for the March 4 accident on Interstate 30 in which part of a forklift being hauled on Mr. Berry's truck struck an overpass, broke off and killed John LaBella, 51.
COURTESY PHOTO |
Mr. LaBella, of Dallas, was driving home from his job as host for radio station KMEO-FM (96.7) in Arlington when the top part of the forklift fell into oncoming traffic. Mr. LaBella, who had been co-host of the popular "Morning Zoo" on KZEW-FM (97.9) for more than a decade, died instantly.
If Mr. Berry meets all conditions of the plea bargain, the state jail felony charge will be erased from his record. One other condition of probation requested by Mr. LaBella's widow, Beth, was that he write four separate letters to family members expressing his remorse for the accident.
In a hearing in front of state District Judge Harold Entz, Mr. Berry testified that he was stunned by the events of his first - and last - day on the job for Eagle Transport. He told the judge that he was not licensed to drive the heavy rig, but that his employers didn't ask to see his license.
RICHARD MICHAEL PRUITT / DMN John LaBella was killed instantly when part of a forklift hit his car on Interstate 30. |
Mr. Berry said he took a test drive with a forklift on a rig earlier that morning without incident when he was dispatched to pick up another forklift from a Dallas steel company.
"I'm devastated," Mr. Berry said. "I don't know how to describe it - it’s ... unbelievable."
Prosecutor Jeff Rossborough told Mr. Berry: "You might want to include that in your letter to Mr. LaBella's family."
Mr. Berry was driving a truck owned by L & W Services of Kennedale, which also does business as Eagle Towing and Recovery. The collision caused $50,000 worth of damage to the Fort Worth Avenue bridge, including a cracked steel beam.
A damages lawsuit filed in June by Mr. LaBella's family against the trucking company and Mr. Berry is pending in civil court.
Truck driver indicted in crash that killed DJ (John LaBella)
D-FW radio personality killed in I-30 traffic accident [Forklift Fell on John LaBella]
Maybe this is God's way of taking them away from us. I personally think most morning radio is FILTH. The jocks try to out-dirty each other.
I'm not losing sleep over this one.
Maybe this is God's way of taking them away from us. I personally think most morning radio is FILTH. The jocks try to out-dirty each other.
I'm not losing sleep over this one.
LaBella wasn't doing that when he was killed, and his show was not "filthy".
In addition, rejoicing over death is a sure sign of a lowlife.
Maybe if you flushed yourself, that would be God's way of ridding the world of one more piece of trailer-park trash.
If I could come through your monitor, I'd have my hands on your worthless throat.
He was. A beautiful man with a beautiful family.
I knew him marginally, but even I think of him every time I turn on the radio.
Even if the guy was Howard Stern (which he wasn't, not by a long shot), he didn't deserve to have the life crushed out of him by the carelessness of one idiot truck driver.
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