Truck Veered Off Freeway, Hit Houses : Man Sought in Accident Had Suspended License

The driver’s license of a man who drove a tractor-trailer truck off the Hollywood Freeway and into two houses was suspended in October for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the Department of Motor Vehicles said Thursday.

And DMV records show that Reginald Davis of Hawthorne did not have a truck driver’s license, required to drive an 18-wheel vehicle, even before the suspension. Instead, he had a chauffeur’s permit, which allowed him to drive smaller commercial vehicles such as limousines and school buses.

A more extensive driving test and better knowledge of laws concerning trucks are required for a truck driver’s license, a DMV spokeswoman said.

The California Highway Patrol will ask the Los Angeles city attorney’s office to file misdemeanor charges of driving with a suspended license and leaving the scene of an accident against Davis, 31, who fled after the crash Tuesday night and remains at large, Officer Jim Young said.

Davis’ mother, Elvira, said she received a call from her son Thursday evening. She said he told her he wanted to turn himself in to authorities.

“He said he’d been walking for two days, that he was just in shock,” she said. “That was the first time I’d heard from him. . . . I’d been calling police and calling hospitals all the time trying to find him.”

The accident occurred shortly after 10 p.m. when the truck Davis was driving hit a Volkswagen parked on the shoulder of the freeway north of Saticoy Street. The truck barreled down a steep embankment into the houses on Babcock Avenue. It finally stopped when its cab entered Rolando Manasala’s kitchen.

Manasala said Davis asked him to call the 911 emergency line for help, then disappeared.

No one inside the two houses was injured in the crash, although neighbors said that there was blood in the truck, indicating that Davis may have been hurt. Davis’ mother said he did not say anything about injuries when he called.

The flatbed truck Davis drove was loaded with sealed containers of used asbestos insulation. Los Angeles County Health Department officials determined that none of the potentially hazardous material had escaped.

CHP investigators learned Davis’ name from the company that hired him to transport the asbestos, J. Cal Transportation of Lakewood, which specializes in hauling hazardous waste. Company President Peggy Caley said Davis was not a regular employee.

“It was a weekend kind of thing. . . . My employee was sick, and a friend’s employee was available,” Caley said. “We said, ‘We need a driver right now,’ and he was there.”

Caley said she was not aware that Davis’ license had been suspended. She said she did not have time to check into his background before the load of asbestos was scheduled to leave for a Stockton disposal site. She refused to identify the company that had referred Davis to her.

Background Checks

Deputy City Atty. Vincent Sato would not comment on the Davis case since charges have not been filed. He said state and federal laws require licensed hazardous-waste haulers to complete extensive background checks on their employees because of the dangers involved in their work.

“Part of that whole certification process is that they have to guarantee that their employees are adequately trained to be transporting this stuff,” Sato said. “From a licensing standpoint, it’s a crime, so the company could be subject to criminal prosecution.”

Davis’ chauffeur’s license was suspended once before, in January, 1987, when he failed to appear in court or pay a fine for an earlier citation for driving under the influence, according to the DMV. In May, 1987, he was arrested for driving without a license after he was involved in an accident in Compton.