Image by Leif Skoogfours via Wikimedia Commons.
The driver of a tanker truck that exploded in Montebello and destroyed a freeway bridge in 2011 testified via video deposition Wednesday that he initially thought he had a flat tire when he began having trouble controlling the big rig. Bilal Ahmed Ghutta said he was driving in the right lane of the Pomona (60) Freeway near noon on Dec. 14, 2011, when his attention was drawn to a noise.
“I heard a really loud bang and then the whole truck started drifting to my left,” Ghutta said. “I had to use both hands to stay in my lane.”
The presentation of Ghutta’s video testimony came during during the second day of trial of a Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed by his employer at the time, Cool Transports, against Peterbilt Motors Co., the manufacturer of the 2006 model truck that was pulling dual tanks.
The lawsuit maintains a defective universal joint in the interaxle drive shaft caused bearings to pierce the forward tanker.
Peterbilt maintains that Cool Transports’ mechanics failed to properly lubricate the universal joint.
According to Ghutta, he and a co-worker drove from a Cool Transports terminal in Cudahy that morning to a Chevron fuel refilling center in Montebello. He said that after they loaded about 7,000 gallons into the tanks, they headed north on Garfield Avenue and entered the eastbound 60 Freeway.
Ghutta said that when he saw smoke through his rear view mirror, he knew the problem was worse than a flat tire. He said his co-worker began yelling “flames!” and told him to stop the truck.
Ghutta testified he and his colleague jumped out of the cab shortly after he stopped the front portion of the truck under the Paramount Boulevard bridge. Within seconds, the entire forward tank was ablaze, he said.
Ghutta said a police officer who was traveling on the freeway at the time made a U-turn and came back to help control traffic. He said he remained at the scene about four to five hours answering questions from investigators.
Cool Transports previously agreed to pay the state $5.9 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the state for the costs of building a new, wider bridge that opened in May 2012.
— Wire reports