Steven Ames has been a truck driver for 30 years. He decided to pick up another job to make some extra money for Christmas. He took a job working for Zurla Trucking Co., which runs out of Walsh Truck Center in Fort Myers, Florida.
“I was off more than half that time,” Ames told WINK News,” because the truck was down or broke.”
On the morning of December 27th, Ames was driving along Collier Boulevard when his brakes suddenly stopped working and he rear ended two cars and overturned.
According to WINK News, Ames and two others were seriously injured.
“I told him the day before I did not want to drive the truck. They said the problem was fixed and the problem wasn’t fixed,” Ames told the news station.
Ames told the station that in the two months he worked for Zurla, he complained about the truck’s problems on a daily basis to the company’s management.
“I’m afraid it’s going to happen to a lot more people and I’m sure it has and it’s going to continue,” Ames said.
WINK News investigated Zurla and found four companies registered with under Zurla. Of those carriers, 111 trucks had been placed out of service.
In 2008, a former Zurla employee was fired for refusing to drive an unsafe truck. The employee filed a claim against the company with OSHA and won. Zurla was forced to reinstate the employee without retribution.
The day after Ames’ crash, he was issued citations for 8 bad tires, faulty brakes and reckless driving.
Ames has hired a lawyer and plans to sue the company.