Truck driver's medical clearance expired day after triple-fatal crash outside Las Vegas

terrifying video of a truck going the wrong way before killing three people that driver now facing charges of reckless driving resulting in death thanks for joining us I'm Denise Valdez I'm Brian Loftus our 8 news now investigators first reported the driver's name now 8 news now investigator David Char is learning more about his license David yeah Brian Denise Claude rafiki's commercial driver's license the one allowing him to drive the truck that would Collide into three motorcyclists killing them was downgraded the day after that crash not because of the Collision but because he didn't submit updated medical certificates making that commercial license then invalid this discovery today coming as we are seeing just how long prosecutors say he drove on the wrong side of the road till it was too late it's just after 2:30 on March 23rd this video the 8 News Dow investigators obtained shows this semi-truck heading west on Route 163 near Laughlin when it slowly moves across a pair of rumble strips and onto the wrong side of the road the driver narrowly misses a car before staying on the wrong side for 15 more seconds then as a group of eight motorcycles comes around the corner the impact we are pausing the video there 22-year-old Owen Hart was riding with his fiance to celebrate his birthday they would die along with another rider in the group Nevada versus Nevada State Police originally arrested 29-year-old Claude Rafiki on three charges of DUI resulting in death in an arrest report the ow investigators obtained a trooper deemed rafiki's performance on a field sobriety test unsatisfactory with the officer noting bloodshot eyes in unsteady gate but tests would show only rafiki's prescribed medications were in his system a juror asking that Trooper during a grand jury hearing when you were speaking to him was there any smell of alcohol on him the trooper replying no no outside signs of impairment yes Rafiki is a licensed commercial driver out of Michigan his driving record obtained by the 8 News investigators shows his medical certification clearance required to drive that truck expired the day after the triple fatal crash and there are no medical restrictions listed as of Tuesday we don't know why Rafiki was on the wrong side of the road in all the video shows him there for 25 seconds now Rafiki told police that it was actually the wind that caused him to go the wrong way and the national weather service had issued a warning that day about Gust in that area 55 mph now Rafiki initially faced charges of DIY resulting in death but prosecutors then amended those charges because as you saw in that story there was no DUI element that Troopers ended up actually finding and David looking similar to another major crash that David covered the one more than three years ago now where an impaired driver killed five cyclists right so we did this story a couple years ago our investigation in that case found that Troopers did not think Jordan Barson who you see in some of the video here was impaired it turns out though he had enough meth in his system to kill him though he survived and now he's in prison the tables actually may be turned here as a trooper who suspected impairment but the driver was not impaired at all we shall see all right thanks so much for your coverage David

Channel: 8 News Now — Las Vegas

Views: 408,682

Keywords: video, I-Team, news, Las Vegas, Laughlin, crash, motorcycles, Nevada State Police, Nevada, Claude Rafiki

Id: VH6GidmjUwc

Length: 3min 21sec (201 seconds)

Published: Wed May 08 2024