Typically in an accident involving a truck, the truck driver is left to shoulder the blame.
This week, a truck driver who was at the wheel of a truck that plowed though a busy intersection and killed 27 people is being rallied around and supported– not blamed– by the some of the victim’s families.
23-year-old  Sagekal Logistics driver Sanele Goodness May was at the wheel of the truck that plowed through the busy intersection in Pinetown, South Africa.
All reports point to faulty brakes.
Twenty eight people lost their lives in the crash and 80 others were injured.
May has been arrested and faces multiple murder charges, but the victim’s families say the carrier is at fault, not the driver.
“My heart is also sore for him. The company that employed him should be punished, not the driver,” Steven Mokautle told The Times.
Mokautle’s mot, Elizabeth, 52 was a passenger in one of the taxis that was struck.
“When I got to the scene, it was so bad. I thought this is not my mother. Where is my beautiful mother? I still can’t believe she is dead. My nine-year-old brother can’t understand what has happened,” Mokautle said.
Thembisa Nompula’s 22-year-old sister, Nombifuhi,was one of the crash victims.
“But we can’t blame the driver. Everyone needs a job and he was in a difficult position. I don’t think he could have told his boss he doesn’t want to drive an unroadworthy truck,” Nompula told The Times.
Sagekal Logistics did not “have the decency to even meet with us,” she said.
Do you think that if carriers were held partially responsible for crashes involving faulty equipment that they would take better care of their trucks?
WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO