A North Carolina trucking company and a NC truck driver are being sued after a deadly big rig crash with a large van took place last month. According to Channel 7 News, the two families of two of the truck accident victims have filed a wrongful death lawsuit that states that the trucker who caused the crash is guilty of gross negligence. North Carolina trucking company C & T Durham as well as the truck driver are included in the NC truck wreck lawsuit.
The NC truck accident took place on an interstate at 3:30 in the morning on Sunday, January 24, 2010, when an 18 passenger van carrying 16 people slowed down in the right lane in order to stop on the shoulder. A semi truck driving behind them failed to slow down when they did and slammed into the back of the van. The van rolled several times, killing 20-year-old passengers Vijay and Sujal Patel and injuring a number of others. The truck driver, a 42-year-old man named Randall Chriscoe from Ramseur, NC, suffered minor injuries in the big rig crash.
Two other passengers from the van are still in the hospital in serious condition following the truck crash.
Investigators are still unsure why the truck driver did not brake when the van did, though some have suspicions that the driver was either falling asleep at the wheel or distracted by something inside his cab. Witnesses say that the truck was swerving just before the tractor-trailer accident took place.