The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has ordered a North Carolina man to cease operating commercial vehicles in interstate commerce after a series of roadside inspections turned up numerous major violations.
The federal order was served to Jean Lafortune, Jr. on July 22, 2021.
The FMCSA says that the order was issued in response to a series of unannounced roadside inspections that occurred on February 17, 2021, in Connecticut, March 4, 2021, in South Carolina, and March 10, 2021, in New York.
During each of these inspections, law enforcement said that Lafortune did not possess a valid CDL and had no record-of-duty status.
“Further, in every instance, officers found containers of alcoholic beverages in Lafortune’s truck cab, a violation of federal law. At the scene in each instance, Lafortune was placed out-of-service. During the roadside safety inspection in New York, the officer additionally found several mechanical defects and placed the vehicle out-of-service,” the FMCSA said in a news release.
The FMCSA says that Lafortune continued to operate commercial vehicles in interstate commerce in spite of the fact that he had been placed out of service in three separate states in three weeks.
On July 9, 2021, a trooper in Pennsylvania observed Lafortune behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle after he became stuck on private property. The investigating trooper discovered that Lafortune did not have a valid CDL or record-of-duty status. He was placed out of service. The truck he was operating was also taken out of service for multiple safety violations.
FMCSA’s imminent hazard out-of-service order states that Lafortune’s “disregard for the safety of the motoring public demonstrated by these actions substantially increases the likelihood of serious injury or death to you and/or to the motoring public if not discontinued immediately.”