Back on June 24,2021, there was an incident in Nashville, Tennessee. Abdalla Arbo, 40 years old at the time, crashed his Freightliner Columbia into a house after colliding with multiple vehicles. A Honda Accord turned into Arbo’s path. He swerved in an attempt to avoid the crash, but instead, his truck struck the Honda, a Ford F-150 pickup truck, and a Ford Escape SUV. The Freightliner then ran into the front yard and crashed into a garage of a nearby home. Luckily, no one was inside the home.
Arbo was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, while one of the injured persons was taken to Tristar Skyline Medical Center. A passenger in one of the vehicles was taken to Vanderbilt in critical condition, while the driver refused transport.
Why you should always be running legally
A Grand Jury came back with decisions to indict Arbo with over 40 charges on May 19. He was charged with 32 counts of log book forgery and various other motor carrier safety rule violations. There were “multiple log books” and unreported brake problems found by investigators. He was also charged with five counts of reckless endangerment and two counts of “aggravated assault with a deadly weapon by reckless driving.”
Arbo is being held on $75,000 bond and is in jail awaiting trial. This is a big lesson for others to study on why running legal is always best. None of us like the downtime of waiting in a shop to get our trucks fixed. And it goes without saying that we should be keeping a clean log book or ELD. (Yes, ELDs can be fudged too.) That being the case, you should never be driving tired. Pull over and get some sleep!
