In separate and unrelated orders announced on Feb. 7, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration declared two commercial driver’s license holders and the carrier owned by one of them imminent hazards to public safety, prohibiting them from operating in interstate commerce. The agency declared Devon L. House to be an imminent hazard on Jan. 14. It shut down Ricky L. Hatfield and his Tazewell, Tenn.-based Hatfield Trucking (USDOT No. 2385057) as imminent hazards on Jan. 22, 2014.
Although the cases are unrelated, they are linked by alcohol. On three separate occasions in the past six months, House, a CDL holder from Casselberry, Fla., was cited for alcohol-related violations while operating a commercial motor vehicle.
Hatfield on Nov. 19, 2013, was operating a tractor-trailer on Interstate 81 in Franklin County, PA, when his truck crossed onto the highway shoulder, collided with a car, struck two pedestrians, hit a dump truck and overturned across the I-81 northbound lanes. Hatfield fled the scene but was caught and charged with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, aggravated assault by a vehicle, failure to stop at an accident involving death or personal injury and other charges. In 2009, Hatfield was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol in Utah.
For the order against Hatfield Trucking, click here. FMCSA no longer routinely releases imminent hazard out-of-service orders on drivers.
