Van Hampered Before Crash, Investigators Say

The van in which 14 Los Angeles residents were killed Sunday was apparently limping along, emergency lights flashing, in the right-hand lane of a Texas interstate when a tractor-trailer slammed into it from the rear, authorities said Wednesday.

That new theory contradicts the ones that were offered immediately after the wreck in which 12 children and two adults were killed. Mike Cox, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said fatigue on the part of the trucker may have been a factor in the disastrous accident, one of the worst in Texas history.

Earlier speculation was that the van either swerved onto the highway or that the truck blew a tire and the driver lost control of his rig.

But Cox said there was evidence to suggest that Claudia Funches of Los Angeles, the driver of the van, was moving slowly but legally when hit from behind by the truck about 9:30 a.m. Sunday.

“There were no skid marks at all, no evidence that the truck driver braked,” Cox said. “(Investigators) do believe fatigue may have played a part in the accident on the part of the trucker.”

No one has been charged in the accident, but a grand jury is expected to hear evidence in the case after the team reconstructing what happened completes its work. That could take at least a month, Cox said.

But, he said, based on preliminary interviews, the van developed mechanical troubles, apparently because it was overloaded with 18 people traveling to Vicksburg, Miss., for a family reunion.

Cox said the shocks on the 1977 Dodge van were so shot because of the weight of so many passengers that the tires were hitting the inside of the wheel wells at every bump. Because there were speed bumps on the side of the highway, Funches apparently decided she would be better off driving slowly on the highway, with warning lights flashing.

She had been driving on the roadway for at least a minute when hit from behind by the truck, driven by Richie Ware of Arlington, Tex., Cox said. The force of the impact was so great that the van was crumpled and a fire started as it was being pushed down the road by the truck.

According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, Funches had been driving without a license for the last 10 years. The records show that her license was suspended in February, 1984, for failure to appear on traffic tickets.

She was stopped once in 1990 and cited for driving on a suspended license, not having proof of insurance and not having a child in a safety seat. Cox said the van had two rows of seats at most and probably most of the passengers were crammed in the rear section of the vehicle that was hit by the truck. He said the damage from the fire made it impossible to determine whether anyone was wearing seat belts, but it was clear that there were not enough for the number of people in the van.

“We just couldn’t tell,” he said. “Our feeling is they were not.”

Cox said Texas law requires safety restraints only for those in the front seat and children under 4.