David Lambeth Killed, Narinder Singh Charged in Strafford, MO, Accident
Strafford, MO -- February 16, 2017, David Lambeth was killed after an accident where 18-wheeler driver Narinder Singh allegedly caused a fatal crash.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol responded to the fatal crash at around 8:00 a.m. near the intersection of I-44 and Highway 125.
They say that an earlier accident caused traffic to come to a slowdown. 44-year-old Narinder Singh was driving an 18-wheeler westbound on the interstate and came to the line of traffic at high speeds. He swerved around the line of traffic and struck the back of another 18-wheeler in another lane.
This caused his trailer to jackknife across more lanes before hitting a Ford pickup. The collision caused the semi to roll over, and it landed on the driver's side of the pickup.
The driver of the pickup, 43-year-old Lambeth, was killed in the accident. It's unclear if anyone else was injured.
Singh claimed that a car cut him off, causing him to swerve, but multiple witness testimonies refuted this. Singh was arrested following the accident, and he currently faces a charge of first-degree involuntary manslaughter.
Police have not released any additional details at this time.
Map of the Area
Commentary
A prominent theory of negligence used in modern law is a concept known as negligent hiring. In a nutshell, this theory holds that since employers maintain a significant amount of control over their employees, they are expected to diligently vet employees in order to ensure that workers are not put in positions that impact public safety or safety of a co-worker. For instance, a company would be guilty of negligent hiring if they hired a known drug addict to work in a pharmacy. Likewise, it would be an act of negligent hiring if a daycare hired a known child molester. The bottom line is that society imposes a legal obligation upon companies to exercise due diligence in staffing positions within their firm. Should they fail to do so, they are effectively seen as an accomplice in whatever harm is perpetrated by the offending employee.
If the news reports regarding this crash are accurate, there is no way in a million years this truck driver should have been operating a commercial vehicle. Multiple news outlets have reported some of his alleged past violations:
- leaving the scene of a crash.
- 6 speeding violations.
- failure to obey traffic signs.
- driving with defective equipment.
- driving while suspended.
He may have caused the crash, but whoever hired him to drive a truck despite his track record bears a significant portion of responsibility for Mr. Lambeth's death. If news outlets could uncover this guy's driving history, then certainly an employer should have been able to do the same. Not only should they have been aware for logical reasons, they are legally required to ensure their drivers are fit for the job.
Whether they failed to do a proper background check or put this guy on the road even knowing his past, they negligently allowed an unsafe driver to operate a commercial vehicle. That decision led to a severe accident which took someone else's life. Criminal law may seek to hold Mr. Singh responsible for his actions in this case, but it won't do much to punish whoever hired him in the first place. For justice to truly be done, it's only fair that the company whose negligent actions contributed to Mr. Lambeth's death is also held accountable.
--Grossman Law Offices
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