Company involved in fatal I-35 crash had several citations

Source: Star Tribune

OWATONNA, Minn. — A Minnesota trucking company involved in a fatal crash caused by its cargo falling onto Interstate 35 has been cited for several vehicle infractions over the past three years, according to a published report.

Minnesota Commercial Railway Company has been cited for one or more out-of-service violations at least 10 times during 20 inspections over the past two years by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Owatonna People's Press reported today.

The national rate for violations during such inspections, meanwhile, is 22.9 percent, the newspaper reported.

Two people died Friday when their pickup truck struck a 21,000-pound aluminum coil roll that had fallen off the bed of a semitrailer truck operated by Minnesota Commercial Railway Company.

The crash happened when the driver of the semi lost control in the southbound lanes of Interstate 35 near Clinton Falls and went into the median. The semi recovered and returned to the southbound lanes but lost its load, leaving two of the coils in the roadway.

Johnny Elk Jr., 31, of St. Louis Park and Amy Jo Herberg, 28, of Coon Rapids were killed when their pickup struck one of the coils roughly five minutes later.

Representatives for the company — which also does business as Commercial Transload of Minnesota — declined to comment about the accident, stating only that the incident remains under investigation.

The FMCSA inspection results spanned a two-year period ending Nov. 16, according to the agency's Web site.

Capt. Ken Urquhart, commander of the Minnesota State Patrol's Commercial Vehicle Enforcement division, said the company has been cited by the state for 39 violations during nine inspections over the past three years.

Such violations included an inspection as recent as Nov. 16, he said, when one of the company's trucks was cited for a general load securing violation. Other offenses constitute a mix of out-of-service infractions, Urquhart said, such as equipment problems, traffic violations and driver issues.

"That's more than there should be,'' he said. "They shouldn't be having these problems on a regular basis.''

Urquhart said the State Patrol contacted the FMCSA after the accident and that a federal agent will investigate the circumstances of the crash. Based on the agent's findings, he said, the agency could bar the company from conducting interstate shipping until internal problems are resolved.

Lt. Nancy Silkey of the State Patrol said the crash remains under investigation for possible criminal charges.