Federal investigators are checking to see whether a trucker involved in a fatal collision in Texas had links to the 1990s bribes-for-CDLs scandal in Illinois, sources told Land Line.

The wreck – at 4:20 p.m. Sept. 20 on U.S. 75 near Sherman, TX, which is close to the Oklahoma border north of Dallas – killed 10 people. Police allege that a tractor-trailer crossed the centerline and collided with a pickup and an SUV.

Police arrested Miroslaw Jozwiak, 45, a resident of Daytona Beach, FL.

The accident occurred inside Sherman city limits, a little more that a half mile south of Farm-to-Market Highway 1417 on a four-lane, divided section of U.S. 75, police said.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found that the northbound tractor-trailer had crossed over into the southbound lanes, where it collided with the pickup and SUV. Among the dead were five people from one family – members of three generations.

Jozwiak, 45, is charged with 10 counts of criminally negligent homicide. He has been arraigned, but further court action is on hold while law-enforcement officials await further information.

Lt. Todd Smithers, a spokesman for the Sherman, TX, Police, said the truck driver “was able to speak some English.” Other police records indicated that Jozwiak spoke English, but with a “noticeable accent,” and that he requested a lawyer who spoke Polish.

“His English is limited, and legal proceedings are being conducted with an interpreter,” said Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown. “Our understanding is that he has a limited ability to speak English and communicates on a basic level.”

That fact caught the attention of officials in Illinois.

The Illinois connection
Jozwiak received his CDL at the McCook facility in suburban Chicago, which was at the center of the Illinois CDL scandal several years ago.

Federal investigators allege that state officials at the McCook facility took bribes in exchange for commercial driver’s licenses in the 1990s. More than 60 people have been convicted in the case, dubbed Operation Safe Road, “and they’re still keeping score,” said Dave Druker, a spokesman for the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office.

“The McCook facility was pretty rife with corruption,” Druker said.

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who was secretary of state at that time, has been indicted as well. The Secretary of State’s Office supervises the facility and others like it.

Two of the truckers who received the fraudulent licenses in the Illinois scandal were later involved in two accidents with a total of nine deaths. One of those incidents involved a fatal 74-vehicle wreck in 1998.

Concern about a possible connection, Druker said, led the Secretary of State’s Office to refer Jozwiak’s case to federal investigators.

“There isn’t any presumption of guilt on our part,” Druker said. “We just have some concerns given the tragedy that occurred in Texas and the bad history of the location where that gentleman got his CDL.”

Many of the drivers who received licenses during the scandal were people of East European descent who spoke little or no English.

“We don’t have any evidence that he (Jozwiak) was part of the Safe Road thing, but we just want to make sure,” Druker said. “(We’re) in the very preliminary stages of looking at it.”

Jozwiak received a regular driver’s license in 1993, Druker said. He received a CDL from the McCook facility in 1996, which expired in 1998; shortly after that time, Druker said, Jozwiak received a Florida CDL.

The McCook facility was closed down after Jesse White became Illinois secretary of state. Druker said drivers had stopped going to the facility to obtain CDLs out of fear that a connection to McCook would cause them to have to retake their tests.

Police search for a cause
Meanwhile, investigators in Texas continue their search for what caused the fatal accident near Sherman. Part of their effort now centers on whether the truck driver fell asleep behind the wheel.

A police accident reconstruction expert said there was no physical evidence that the truck driver had attempted to use the brakes from the point where he left the northbound lanes to the point of collision.

In their request for a search warrant, police said they did not think any tires on the rig blew out, or that the accident was caused by any other mechanical failure on the truck. Smithers confirmed that no evidence was found of any mechanical failure.

“According to witness statements, he just drifted from the outside lane into the inside lane and straight over into the median and up into the southbound lanes,” Smithers said. “Nobody reported seeing brake lights or any evidence of him braking. … No one reported hearing Jake brakes; I don’t know if the truck was equipped with them or not.”

Police asked a judge for permission to test Jozwiak’s blood. Their request was linked to a black leather briefcase found with the driver.

When the ambulance took Jozwiak to the hospital, police records said, he took the briefcase, which was locked. Ambulance workers told police that he insisted on taking it. When police opened it, they found a number of different medications.

Joe Brown, district attorney of Grayson County, TX, confirmed that prescription drugs – some of which reportedly could cause drowsiness – were found.

Smithers identified those drugs as Pernazinum, Pyralginum and Sulpiryd. One of the drugs treats pain, one is for depression and one is a sedative.

“We’re having a blood test done to see whether any of these were in his system,” Smithers said.

However, Brown stopped short of saying the drugs were a factor in causing the collision.

“We have no way of knowing,” he said. “We’re going to compare his blood to the drugs that were found in his belongings. The lab results are pending.”

Jozwiak’s attorney, Joe Smith of Sherman, was not available for comment at press time; a receptionist at his office said he is not speaking to the media about the case at this time.

The next step
Officials continue to gather evidence in the case.

Media outlets reported that officers were still trying to find Jozwiak’s logbook, which they said could contain pertinent information, such as how long he had been working.

Brown said Jozwiak had been arraigned in the case by a local justice of the peace, but no further court action has occurred. The next step in the court case would be – once the lab results are in – to present the evidence to a grand jury.

– By Mark H. Reddig, associate editor
mark_reddig@landlinemag.com