Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 7, 1995 TAG: 9503070105
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Kathy Jones Williams, 36, was killed when the tow truck she was driving burst into flames at the Ironto rest area off Interstate 81 after it was crushed between two tractor-trailers that had entered a cars-only lane.
Melvin Vargas, 22, of Hialeah, Fla., had faced a felony charge of involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum punishment of 10 years. But Montgomery County Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs accepted a plea agreement that reduced the charge to the misdemeanor offense of reckless driving. In addition to serving jail time, Vargas will have to pay a $2,000 fine.
``The law did not justify an involuntary-manslaughter conviction,'' Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith said after the brief hearing. For involuntary manslaughter to be proven, Keith said, ``you have to have a reckless act that is so reckless it's practically to the point of being intentional.''
Christopher Tuck, Vargas' lawyer, thought from the beginning that the felony charge was too rigid, based on the evidence about the ``unfortunate accident'' that killed the mother of two. Tuck had sought to have the charge lowered to reckless driving at an October preliminary hearing. Vargas, originally from the Dominican Republic, is ``a good human being who has been here maybe five years and worked every day,'' Tuck said. Vargas' wife is five months pregnant.
``Phil and I only disagreed on the amount of jail time that justice required,'' Tuck said Monday afternoon.
According to evidence presented at the preliminary hearing, Vargas was driving the tractor-trailer that rear-ended the tow truck. Williams, the owner-operator of East Side Chevron in Radford, had stopped her truck behind a rig driven by Jose Estrella. Seconds later, Vargas followed Estrella's truck into the rest area and could not stop before hitting Williams. Both men were driving trucks owned by Dynamic Express, a New Jersey trucking company.
The posted speed limit at the rest area is 25 mph. A state trooper testified in October that Vargas told him, with Estrella interpreting his Spanish, that he was driving 35 to 40 mph when he struck Williams' truck.
Vargas, who had been a licensed commercial driver for only two weeks before the crash and does not speak or read English, told state police he was looking to the right and not paying attention to what was in front of him. He, like Estrella, did not see the sign directing truck traffic to another part of the rest area.
Estrella, 31, was found guilty in October of improper driving and was fined $100.
First National Bank of Christiansburg, as administrator of Williams' estate, has filed a $25 million civil suit against Vargas, Estrella and Dynamic Express.
Vargas, who no longer is employed by Dynamic, recently had been driving a delivery truck, his lawyer said.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB