<\/p>\n
The Erie semi-truck driver charged with causing a chain-reaction crash that sent eight people to the hospital is free on bond, after posting bail.<\/p>\n
Irabaruta Ezechiel is facing 22 charges, including aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI, in connection to the July 23 crash.<\/p>\n
According to police, 10 people were injured after Ezechiel slammed into four vehicles and five motorcycles that were stopped at a red light at West 12th and Myrtle Streets.<\/p>\n
Witnesses told police he attempted to leave the scene while holding a case of beer.<\/p>\n
He was then chased down and subdued by witnesses until police arrived.<\/p>\n
Erie News Now did some digging into Ezechiel’s driving record, and it turns out that he has two previous DUI convictions prior to the recent crash.<\/p>\n
In 2014, Ezechiel pleaded guilty to DUI at the highest rate and was sentenced to four years of probation.<\/p>\n
According to court documents, it was his second DUI.<\/p>\n
Court records also reveal that Ezechiel has been a longtime resident of Erie, and that he has his commercial driving license (CDL) in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Erie News Now spoke with defense attorney John Carlson to find out if a person with past DUI charges is allowed to get their commercial driving license.<\/p>\n
“Yes, they are and the means of doing that is different over the years because DUI laws have changed.” said Carlson.<\/p>\n
In the West 12th Street crash, it’s the first time Ezechiel was charged with DUI while operating a commercial vehicle.<\/p>\n
“If a person is driving while under the influence and they have a CDL, for a first offense there may be several options,” said Carlson. “A trial, a plea, or they may be eligible for a special disposition called the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD).”><\/p>\n
In Pennsylvania, a first-time DUI conviction for a person with a CDL results in a one-year license suspension.<\/p>\n
“If you have a CDL license and you get a DUI, even if it’s in your personal vehicle, you face a mandatory one year suspension of your CDL.” said defense attorney Eric Hackwelder.<\/p>\n
According to Hackwelder, a second DUI conviction for a commercial vehicle driver results in a lifetime CDL disqualification.<\/p>\n
“If you’re a CDL driver it’s different than if you were driving your personal vehicle,” said Hackwelder. “If you are carrying a commercial license and you get a second-time DUI, that’s a lifetime ban. You can no longer drive commercially.”<\/p>\n
When it comes to blood alcohol content levels, commercial truck drivers are held to a different standard.<\/p>\n
“For a commercial DUI, the standard is lower,” said Hackwelder. “If you’re in your personal vehicle, it’s .08 percent is the legal limit. For a commercial driver, it’s .04 percent and for a bus driver, it’s even lower at .02 percent.”<\/p>\n
In the West 12th street crash, Ezechiel is charged with DUI at the highest rate of at least double the legal limit.<\/p>\n
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for September 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Erie semi-truck driver charged with causing a chain-reaction crash that sent eight people to the hospital is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[114833,114834,18837,136,138,137,75648],"class_list":["post-272938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-chain-reaction-crash","tag-commercial-driver-license","tag-dui","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-truck-driver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}