Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 12, 1995 TAG: 9501120073
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER|
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Kathy Jones Williams, 36, was killed when the tow truck she was driving burst into flames at the Ironto rest area after it was crushed between two tractor-trailers that entered a cars-only lane.
Melvin Vargas, driver of the tractor-trailer that rear-ended the tow truck, was indicted on a charge of involuntary manslaughter.
Williams had stopped her truck behind a rig driven by Jose Estrella. The truck, like Vargas', is owned by Dynamic Express, a New Jersey trucking company. Seconds later, Vargas followed Estrella's truck into the rest area and could not stop before hitting Williams' truck.
Williams, a divorced mother of two young children, was the owner-operator of East Side Chevron, a Norwood Street service station.
Vargas, 22, of Hialeah, pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge during an October preliminary hearing. His attorney, Chris Tuck, said Vargas will enter the same plea in Circuit Court.
State Trooper A.C. Henderson testified at that hearing that Vargas told him, with Estrella interpreting his Spanish, that he was driving 35 to 40 mph when he struck Williams' truck. The posted speed limit for the rest area is 25 mph.
Vargas, who had been a licensed commercial driver for two weeks before the crash and does not speak or read English, told Henderson that he was looking to the right and not paying attention to what was in front of him. He, like Estrella, did not see the sign directing truck traffic to another part of the rest area.
Estrella, 31, of Brooklyn, N.Y. was found guilty in October of improper driving and was fined $100.
Estrella told Henderson he came to a complete stop after realizing he had missed the lane for truck traffic at the rest area. He said he tried to warn Vargas by CB radio, but was unable to reach him in time, the trooper testified.
The grand jury also returned 15 indictments against a Christiansburg man suspected of sexually assaulting a young girl over a six-month period.
Myron John Macomber, 44, of Belmont Drive, has been jailed since police arrested him in October. He is accused of sodomy, aggravated sexual battery and taking indecent liberties with a child among other charges.
At the time of his arrest, police credited a school play warning children about sexual abuse for prompting the child to report the allegations. "Hugs and Kisses," a play presented by the Child Abuse Prevention Coalition, educates children on how to identify sexual abuse and tells them what to do if they are being abused.
by CNB