Marking The Avon Mountain Crash, 10 Years Later
It was exactly 10 years ago this Wednesday, on
They rushed to the scene, at the intersection of routes 44 and 10, and Widing spent the rest of the day helping police, firefighters and others deal with the aftermath of a fiery wreck that left four dead and 19 injured.
Widing, 67 at the time, now says that the experience inspired him to become certified as a firefighter and emergency medical technician. He worked as both on a volunteer basis until retiring.
"I saw men and women fighting fires and doing rescue work [that day]," Widing said. "That inspired me to become an EMT and firefighter. Being a chaplain is great, but you do a lot with ideas, and I wanted to get on line as an emergency responder."
The observance is scheduled for
Truck Brakes Failed
DiPace, fire chief at the time of the crash, said that even 10 years later, he has a hard time describing what he saw.
"We had never had something like that of that magnitude. I am sometimes speechless about it," DiPace said.
A large commercial dump truck loaded with debris was heading west down the mountain on
Four people were killed:
Abdulraheem Naafi, 41, driver of the truck
Nineteen others were hurt, some seriously. They included
Stotler said she is reminded of that day whenever she travels to
"I would not miss the ceremony for the world," Stotler said. "I miss him every day of my life. It changed all of our lives forever, and we got through it by being a strong family that stays together."
Bongiovanni and Stotler were heading to work when the crash happened, people who knew them said. So, too, was
"I am glad something is being done," Robinson said. "It was an incredible event with an incredible outpouring from first responders and passersby. To not acknowledge them and what happened would be a missed opportunity."
Robinson was at the front of a line cars waiting to go through the intersection when the dump track came barreling down. He said the drivers in the cars around him died. He suffered nine broken bones and a punctured lung.
Robinson said he has no memory of the crash. But the severity of it, both at the scene and the damage it did to so many people's lives, prompted him to dedicate many hours since then to telling the story of what happened. In 2009, he self-published a book titled "Smoke, Fire and Angels: Tragedy on
"I am grateful to have survived, and I always feel a need to remind everyone that people were killed," Robinson said. "And they were good people whose families went through a lot."
Robinson has also spent much of his time since the crash following the protracted legal cases that came later. In an interview, Robinson repeatedly mentioned the suffering of families who lost loved ones. Another sore point for Robinson is a loophole in state law that enabled the company that owned the dump truck to operate the truck without having insurance on it. That loophole was closed after the crash.
But there was little recourse for victims and families to get compensation. Robinson said he holds state lawmakers responsible for letting that loophole be there in the first place.
"Our lawmakers were representing the trucking industry, but who was representing the five little girls in
"We have been especially concerned for the victims and their families," Robertson said. "We wanted to make sure they are comfortable and feel this is appropriate. I think what is planned will meet everyone's needs. It will be very low-key."
Lawsuits, Police Charges
After the accident, while victims, their families and first responders tried to move on, there were debates about the safety of
Eventually the state installed a runaway truck ramp on
Then there were court cases. Two of them were not resolved until nearly a year ago. Those cases were filed by victims and their families who sought to hold the state responsible, claiming that the design of the road was unsafe and contributed to the crash. But the state
The dump truck was owned by American Crushing and Recycling, a
But
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