Police: Truck backup devices not regulated

By Ed Runyan

Ohio law requires drivers to ‘exercise vigilance’ while backing up.

AUSTINTOWN — Though a garbage truck that backed over and killed a blind Austintown man had no backup beeper or rear-end video camera, township police have found no law or regulation requiring such devices.

Austintown Police Lt. Bryan Kloss said the 2003 Mack truck that ran over Anthony Latosky, 29, of Sandalwood Lane, on May 30 had apparently been equipped with both a backup beeper and a video camera system at one time.

But only the wires remained for the beeper system, and the camera system was not operational either, Kloss said. He didn’t know what part of the video system remained on the vehicle.

The department was advised that neither Ohio law nor federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations require either of those devices on the garbage truck involved.

The truck, equipped with a hydraulic lift that picks up metal garbage receptacles from the front of the truck, was backing out of a private drive onto South Raccoon Road when it ran over Latosky.

Latosky was legally blind and was carrying a cane identifying him as a blind person. He had some vision in one eye and regularly walked along South Raccoon to the Wedgewood Plaza a few miles from his home, his sister said.

This week, police and Kenneth Cardinal, an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor, filed a charge of vehicular manslaughter, a second-degree misdemeanor, against Clement R. Davis, 63, of Trumbull Avenue, Warren.

Davis was the driver of the truck, which is owned by Phoenix Disposal of Youngstown.

Clement was charged under a section of the law that requires drivers of vehicles to give ample warning before backing up and to “exercise vigilance not to injure person or property on the street or highway.”

Kloss said he feels bad for the victim, who leaves behind two children, and for the truck driver.

“It’s truly a tragedy, not only for the victim but for the driver also. He was absolutely beside himself at the scene,” Kloss said of Clement.

Latosky, who became blind in 2002 after a failed Lasik vision-correction surgery in Cleveland, leaves behind a daughter, 7, and a son, 5, in Parma.

The driver didn’t run over Latosky intentionally, but his recklessness led to Latosky’s death, Kloss said. The maximum penalty is up to 90 days in jail.

Clement will be arraigned Monday by Judge David D’Apolito at Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown.

A woman who answered the phone at Phoenix Disposal said she didn’t know whether backup beepers or video equipment are used on any of the company’s trucks. She said she would refer the call to someone else, but the call was not returned.

runyan@vindy.com