Truck driver involved in deadly crash claims brakes failed
police say happened on i-10 near sunland park two weeks ago. police say a semi- truck hit all six vehicles inviolved. this happened may 23rd in the eastbound lanes right by the mall. the crashes were so severe… both sides of i-10 were closed until the next day! the abc-seven i-team got a copy of the official police report.. and it details what witnesses told police happened in the moments leading up to this horrific crash. you’re looking at video showing how it ended. a semi-truck engulfed in flames.. a car wedged underneath that truck. the two women inside the car were killed. new tonight, the police report states the driver of the truck, 27-year-old fateh sing from california says his brakes went out. sing tells police he pulled on the emergency brake, but that didn’t work either. also new tonight, we’re getting a better visual from this police diagram. police say fateh sing says told them he was driving between 50 and 55 miles an hour when his semi- truck began to fishtail … and hit cars on both sides of his truck. one of the cars ended up on the other side of i- 10. and the police report says the car that was crushed and then burned along with the semi … was the final car hit. as we’ve told you, 59 year-old argelia alvarez and 52 year- old martina maldonado were inside that car. both were killed. if you’re thinking the truck drivers story doesn’t add up, you’re not alone. abc-seven spoke with a local mechanic who says complete brake failures are rare … especially with the emergency brake also malfunctioning. reporter darren hunt has his story. reporter live rick and estela, both told me brake failures are extremely rare on semi trucks … and that’s because they told me the air brakes make it almost impossible to move a truck that size if they are not working properly at the time. “we work on brakes almost on daily basis.” mauro cedillo has been a truck mechanic at m and m truck shop in horizon for more than 15 years. “if you don’t have 60 pounds of air pressure your brakes will always be engaged at a stop.” “so you can’t drive the truck without the brakes working?” “it’s almost impossible to driv it … if you’re not building air pressure, you will not be able to drive your truck.” “it will stop itself? “yes. “cedillo said modern trucks lik this all have computers in them that will tell you when someone accelerated or when they braked .” “some companies are using gps s even from a thousand miles away, they know how fast you are going, they know if you have a problem with your truck.” cedillo says trucks have warning systems, too. “all trucks have a low ai warning and they also have air gauges, there’s a primary and a secondary gauge … they have a light and have an audible warning.” “that’s one of the first things that you check is once you start your truck is make sure you got the air that you need.” ex- marine david dominguez from muleshoe, texas, has been driving trucks for more than 20 years. “once you start your truck your primary tank and your secondary tank, you got to have so many pounds of pressure before it releases your brakes … if you have don’t have that air you can’t release your brakes so you can’t move.” i called the company singh works for in california today. they referred us to their attorney, who declined comment. we also asked police whether the computer in singh’s truck is part of the investigation … or whether it was destroyed by fire, but we have yet to hear back from them. rick/estela. new at six… abc-seven just confirmed a body