In The News
Carrier involved in Friday fatal shows only 264 miles for '14, never inspected
GREENSBORO, N.C. — The company whose truck was involved in a fatal accident Friday morning near Greensboro has one truck, a lone driver, traveled only 264 miles in 2014 and has never been subject of a driver or vehicle inspection.
That is according to records of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Daniel Santiago Serna, 31, of Hollywood, Florida, has been charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle and felony hit-and-run.
The address of the carrier given on FMCSA records is a lone residence in what appears to be farmland.
An attempt to reach someone at the carrier was met with a voicemail that did not give the name of the company, but rather gave out only the telephone number.
Serna faces charges in connection with the Friday crash in which the tractor-trailer he was driving ran off the road and struck six motorcyclists who had parked on the side of Interstate 85 near the Groometown Road exit.
Serna was charged in only one death Monday. Arnie M. Morris, 37, of Woodbridge, Virginia, died on impact.
Kenneth N. Jefferson, 51, of South Chesterfield, Va., who also was among the motorcyclists injured, died at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Sunday.
Serna appeared before retired Guilford County District Court Judge Sherry Alloway. She continued Serna's bail at $100,000.
Serna, an American citizen, told the court he doesn't speak English, but North Carolina authorities said he spoke with them in English during an interview Monday night.
"The arrest was illegal," he told Alloway through an interpreter during his first court appearance. "None of the police officers spoke Spanish, and I didn't try to run away."
Alloway admonished Serna, telling him that the appearance was not the time to "tell his side of the story."
During the hearing, court documents were read by an assistant district attorney that stated Serna is accused of hitting the motorcyclists at approximately 6:20 a.m. Friday. According to the document, the motorcyclists pulled to the side of the interstate to deal with mechanical trouble.
Serna didn't stop his truck for some distance after hitting the cyclists and authorities said may not have known he hit the cyclists and only stopped because of a flat tire caused by the accident.
Serna's next court date is scheduled for August 18.
The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at [email protected].