Truck towing overloaded kills, driver gets felony charges.

[the old grind]

"In today's World" IMO we're typically too invested in random national news for entertainment. News-people glamorize events for share, but if you give one a guess they can pass it on, but they can't make it more factual. We know GW made it across the Delaware, but not really in which uniform, or know how many men rowed his boat.

History books don't always agree on details or get their stories perfect. Neither will the guys that were in the truck when it hit that moose doing 60 with Jack driving .. or was it Dave? Newspapers die when people don't read current ones. Reporters might have had half a day to deliver. Nowadays an hour or two is 'late' and the 'next edition' is already live and online.

We tend to cling to the digital media we often despise. (What, is the remote broken? We stuck in the chair?) "Give me State's Rights" but let me fuss over how stuff is done in one I won't move to. If I hear about something in another region or time zone maybe I need something to care about besides the international media conspiring with China to wreck our economy before landing troops on US soil. And then maybe something positive and in my own community is worth more focus.

There's a thread here about what your world looks like .. with eyes open. What does ours look like when they're closed? Do we picture planting a food plot/garden/crop, painting the BH, that one touchdown last Sat over OSU, .. or imagine getting revenge on that neighbor who robbed our orchard and then shot at our dog? Attitude and disposition are user-selectable. Just like news and weather people we work with what we got, live with it, and move on.

This thread has dissipated for sure. Our hindsight means little & I'd rather follow one honoring the lives lost and those injured.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's an updated press release from the NHP. Looking up the towing capacity of a 2017 F350 Super Duty, it's 21K. Looking up the specs of what we think is a Riva Riverama 44' yacht, the weight is over 30K. Add up the 30K+ weight of the suspected boat type, plus the weight of the trailer, and we get approximately 37K#. It doesn't appear to be the combined weight of the truck, trailer and boat. It appears to be the combined weight of just the trailer and boat. So until something else comes up, out, etc... I'd be inclined to believe the NHP's initial press release below. (bolded by me). RIP to the couple involved. Can't find obit info for them as of yet.



Nevada Highway Patrol

On Tuesday, November 9, 2021, at approximately 12:47 p.m., Troopers with the Nevada State Police, Highway Patrol Division, responded to an injury crash involving several vehicles on US-50 at the intersection with South Carson Street in Carson City.

Preliminary investigation shows that a white 2017 Ford F-350 Super Duty pickup towing a 44-foot yacht was traveling east on US-50. The Ford F-350 failed to obey a red traffic light and entered the intersection with South Carson Street. The driver of the Ford F-350 was experiencing extreme brake failure traveling down the grade as the payload was approximately 37,000 lbs. (the Ford F-350 was rated at a max payload of 21,000 pounds.)

A silver 2015 GMC Sierra 1500 pickup was traveling south on South Carson Street in the intersection with US- 50 and entered the path of the Ford F-350. The front of the Ford F-350 struck the right side of the GMC Sierra. The Ford F-350 rotated clockwise and separated from the yacht trailer. The yacht trailer continued east through the intersection.


A white 2013 Mercedes Benz GL-Class SUV and a silver 2005 Nissan Xterra SUV were traveling north on South Carson Street in the intersection with US-50. The tongue of the yacht trailer entered the path of the Mercedes Benz. The driver of the Mercedes Benz drove over the tongue of the yacht trailer and the Mercedes Benz burst into flames. The yacht trailer continued east and struck the left side of the Nissan Xterra. The Nissan Xterra rotated clockwise and overturned. Several other vehicles were involved in this crash resulting in minor injuries.

Two passengers from the GMC Sierra (Tana Powell, a 70-year-old Dayton resident and Don Powell, a 74-year- old Dayton resident) ultimately succumbed to their injuries sustained in the crash. A victim from the Nissan Xterra is still in critical condition at an area hospital.

 

[JasperFrank]

This somehow went to the media is wrong, post. Well, it isn't. The media got it right this time. I agree with Moss on this. The boat in question is a Riva Aquamara 44. The lightest weight on this boat is 31 thousand pounds, depending on its build out which is subject to any sort of customization one wants on a 44 foot Aquamara, which can go up to 34 thousand pounds for just the boat. So just the boat, in a minimal configuration is 10,000 pound over the towing capacity of the truck. The trailer, easily is an extra 5,000 pounds as a five axle trailer. If anything, the numbers are low that the total tow weight was 37,000 pounds. I suspect it was higher.
Back ground.... I was a boat surveyor for 10 years, and saw a few Rivas. Some bigger and some smaller. These are not light boats. They are not designed to be light off-shore go-fast boats, they are Italian designs that have nothing to do with Miami go-fast USA designs. You can't equate the length with the weight. Rivas are much heavier in every way. And you will never find a pic of a Riva 44, having air time. They don't do that, and are not designed to do that, and only go about 50-60 MPH. The 44 is a brick: A very well designed brick of a boat, perfectly suited to going anywhere in the Mediterranean Sea.
And the first time, I saw the first photo of the crash, I thought, that's a Riva.. a heavy boat.
The man in question can not be forgiven for killing two and possibly three people, nor can the other people that set this situation up. He had three levels of warning systems he had to completely ignore to end up in that active intersection.
He should been charged with more. Yet he didn't even have a driver's license. So HAVING ALL THE RIGHT LICENSES makes you more vulnerable in a criminal case? Is that where we are? Cause the only felony I see is "Reckless Driving, " All the rest are much lesser charges.

And I really have to wonder who was around when this boat got loaded, in Tahoe California, and just ignored the Florida tags, the too small truck, and the sketchy trailer. No one wants to get involved any more.

 

[ning]

I don't think the trailer is necessarily sketchy - I found 3 axle boat trailers that were advertised for up to 15k boats; 5 axle are probably all custom jobs, and the members on this one were massive - and the trailer was certainty long enough for the boat.

My guess is the trailer had a lunette for a pintle hitch, as I doubt there exists a bumper pull or receiver hitch rated over 20k. This F350 probably had a pintle in the receiver like I got recently for a much smaller trailer, 15k max; this trailer should've been pulled by much more HD rig.

 

[the old grind]

So a guy slides a pintle hook into his receiver to hook up 2x his tow rating, .. so 4x his truck. Weight ratio says whether any safety chains might hold the truck gets tossed, around if not out of the way. Newton's first law says the boat just keeps going and does the damage with heart-breaking results.

What floors me is to think someone would risk liability to be any part of the job.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

I looked at the prices of these boats used and depending on year. hours and options they are listed at 450K to 800K on Yacht World.com assuming that it really is a Riva Rivarama. With an investment of that much money, why would anyone risk hiring some fly-by-night with a pickup? Could the buyers have been duped into thinking that they hired a pro? In the drivers journey from Florida to Tahoe, he surely had to see the occasional wide load complete with oversize load banners, pilot cars etc. He had to have seen the scale houses along the way also. I am sure Florida has Spanish language info about driving, trailering, etc. so not knowing the language is no excuse.
This guy has to be the stupidest person a whole bunch of people ever had the misfortune to run into literally and figuratively. As I wrote earlier, what he did was akin to walking down the street firing a weapon at random, that the charges aren't manslaughter at a minimum is a travesty.

 

[jeffgreef]

And I was warned against towing my max of 10,000 lbs with my Dodge 2500. This guy was 16,000 lbs. over. Ouch.

 

[daiseysage]

Buddy of mine bought a 42' Scarab years ago. Got a deal on it. It was made for Miami Vice but never used. The production company kept several of them in reserve in case they crahse one on TV. Which they did..... Often.

It weighed 12,000lbs soaking wet. Fully loaded with fuel, ice, beer, me, him and his wife (do not like that woman) it never topped 14k.

He towed it on a 3 axle trailer that sort of had brakes. They were the surge style brakes because electric brakes would self-destruct quickly in Salt Water. I live about 5 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. He lives about a mile from The Caloosahatchee

He had a 2500 suburban with a 454 (most overrated truck engine in galactic history) and I told him it wouldn't pull it. Then he started talking about the superiority of everything cheby.

Well, it would pull it.... Barely. But it wouldn't stop it. I had a F-250 with a fuel injected 460 in it. Not only would it pull its face off, it would stop it. A big plus. He begged it off of me so I sold it to him. Loved that truck. Got 10 MPG whether it was pulling or not. Even pulled that boat from here to Apollo Beach (just south of Tampa, maybe 100 miles) several times

So I know a little bit about boats and I'm telling you...... I just don't believe that boat in the accident weighed what that Trooper said it weighed. I know what a 37,000 lb boat looks like and -- That ain't one of them

"(do not like that woman)" now that there statement is funny

 

[Tony H]

That doesn't look like a 37k lb boat to me.

Here's a 35k lb boat

Journalism continues to live up to its usual high standards

It's powered by two 8.3 QSC Cummins --

42' Post?

 

[JasperFrank]

Gross Negligence Manslaughter: Gross negligence manslaughter is a crime that is committed when someone in an official position commits an unlawful act that they should have been able to see would result in the death of another.

This maybe a problem with our legal system. If he didn't have a CDL, can Gonzalez, or his lawyer claim, that he wasn't in an "official position? "

Ran across this odd legality when working at boat yards. An it was the reason I never got the "Six Pack," Captain's license. If something went horribly wrong, and even if I wasn't piloting the boat, I could be considered a responsible party cause, I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER, to have allowed actions to have taken place.

I think what is the most disturbing, is that while this yacht was being loaded, no one, asked the simple question, after seeing the Florida Tags, "Where are you taking this?"

May have shrugged, if they said anywhere else on the California Coast. Thinking of course that the trailer had brakes.

If it was a yard I was working in, and the driver didn't respond, or said Florida, I would have dropped a dime on him and called CHP to check it out. But in this case, no one did.

Nothing short of a Mack, Freight-liner or Peterbilt could have towed this yacht to Florida in a safe manner.