YORKTOWN, Va. (WAVY) — A lawsuit filed by multiple plaintiffs connected to a deadly collision involving a tractor-trailer and a party shuttle bus states that the trucker was impaired and that the driver’s company, Triton, was reckless and negligent.
The plaintiffs are suing for $10 million in compensatory damages and another $350,000 in punitive damages.
The incident happened in the early morning hours of Dec. 16, 2022 in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 64 not far from the interchange with Humelsine Parkway.
The Triton Logistics Freightliner rear-ended the party bus. Three bus passengers were killed — brothers Jontae Russell and Xzavier Evans, along with Montia “Tia” Bouie.
Bouie’s estate is one of the eight named plaintiffs. As we reported Monday, Triton’s driver Daniel Cramer told federal investigators that he was given a cover story that he told State Police — that he had just dropped off his co-driver. But Cramer eventually told the National Transportation Safety Board that there never was a co-driver.
Cramer also described how he could call Triton’s data center in Lithuania and have them digitally alter his logs to make it appear he had more time for rest. A former Triton driver corroborated Cramer’s cover story claim as well as the log book manipulation.
After seeing our reports on what Triton drivers were doing, the great-grandmother of Tia Bouie likened it to Russian Roulette.
“They are ruining people’s lives,” she said.
One of the key grounds of the lawsuit is the allegation that truck driver Cramer was impaired.
The stricter legal limit for a truck driver in Virginia is just .04, or half of the limit for a regular driver. The lawsuit alleges that Cramer was beyond the legal limit.
But according to the NTSB report, the truck driver was treated at Riverside Regional Medical Center, blood was drawn, the State Police acquired the sample and no ethanol or other tested-for drug or drug classes were detected.
10 On Your Side has reached out to the National Transportation Safety Board to see whether this case will expand beyond a lawsuit and into federal criminal charges.