Caltrans Driver may have been Sexting Prior to Crash
A former Caltrans employee who was involved in a deadly crash may have been receiving sexually suggestive texts from his girlfriend at the time of an accident that happened two years ago.
Investigators believe that driver Dino Morris was involved in a four-vehicle collision in October of 2013 while he was driving a Caltrans sweeper. Morris caused a chain reaction accident on the 710 Freeway after the 20,000 pound sweeper was going 40 mph when it rolled over the vehicle of Rogelio Torres, killing him.
Others involved in the accident such as Fullerton resident Cheryl Durbin, had to be cut from their vehicles by the Jaws of Life.
Durbin and the Torres family have pending lawsuits that they have filed against Caltrans.
According to investigators with the California Highway Patrol, Morris never braked before the impact. Attorneys for the plaintiffs allege that it was possibly the texts that had distracted him.
Morris was questioned about sexting with his girlfriend just before the crash in his deposition, however, Caltrans filed a motion with the court to keep the texts out of the case. .The motion was denied.
The string of texts were sexually suggestive. The last sexually suggestive text Morris received from his girlfriend was at t 10:56. Just two minutes later, Morris would be involved in a fatal accident. He has testified, however, that he does not remember any of the messages.
Goldstein showed Durbin the texts for the first time.
Morris was fired from his job at Caltrans Long Beach after having his license suspended by the DMV for six months following the accident.
Morris, however, is back on the road and behind the wheel once again now that the suspension has expired. Currently, he is driving a dump truck along the same route on the 710 Freeway.
It seems unthinkable that if someone takes the life of another they can get behind the wheel in a short period of time. Ultimately the courts will decide who is liable in the end.
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