TRUCK ACCIDENT: CA Appeals Court reaffirms Murder Raps vs Big Rig Driver

April 6, 2010

Los Angeles – The Second District Court of Appeals has ordered the reinstatement of murder charges against a big rig driver involved in the death of a man and his 12-year old daughter April last year.

The appeals court also found that the lower court erred in dismissing the second-degree murder charges against Marcos Barboza Costa of Everett, Massachusetts after finding that there was sufficient evidence to support the charges.

The court also concluded that “there is some rational ground for assuming the possibility that Costa was aware of the risk to human life posed by continuing to drive his large semi-trailer down the highway, and that he (the driver) consciously and deliberately disregarded that risk”.

The defense attorney however, said the murder charges have no merit and called it “intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt”.

Court record showed that the accident happened on the steep Angeles Crest Highway Costa above La Canada Flintridge. Costa was hauling cars over the San Gabriel Mountains on April 1, 2009 when his brakes failed and hit the car killing Angel Posca and his daughter, Angelina, after colliding with four other vehicles and smashing into a bookstore and nail salon.

Investigations later revealed that Costa had ignored warnings on the size and weight of truckload and that five of the 10 brakes of the double-decker rig were not working or adjusted incorrectly. The brakes also showed signs of overheating and cracking on the pads.

The accident has prompted Caltrans to implement a 90-day ban on five-axle trucks along the Angeles Crest Highway, between the Forest Highway and the 210 Freeway, which was later made permanent.