Safety Issues Cited Against Owner of Truck

The company that owns the runaway truck involved in a fatal accident this week had been previously faulted by the state for failing to maintain the emergency braking systems on its trucks, and for not ensuring that its drivers held valid licenses.

Thursday’s accident, which killed one person and injured six, involved both failed brakes and an unlicensed driver.

In addition, police reported Friday that another trucker who worked for Peterson Brothers Construction had informed his company in December that there were brake problems on the same truck. In other developments, the state Department of Motor Vehicles said Friday it had informed Peterson Brothers three times that it had a driver with an expired license, and Anaheim officials said the truck lacked the permit required for travel on the steep grade.

Company officials said they have worked hard to maintain a good safety record and have fixed whatever problems regulators have brought to their attention.

“In an operation of this size, we have to address these things,” said Peter McNabb, the company’s general manager. “Of course we fixed it. We have to be on top of our game.”

On Thursday, Anthony R. Saiz, a 47-year-old Lakewood man driving on an expired license and with an extensive history of traffic violations, apparently lost the ability to brake his rig on a steep grade in Anaheim Hills and plowed into a line of cars. He remained in critical condition Friday at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange. Kenneth Michael Larkin, 53, an Anaheim Hills optometrist, died in the crash and five others suffered minor injuries.

Police continued to look at a number of maintenance and safety reports, including records from the California Highway Patrol.

CHP records released Friday indicated that the company’s preventive maintenance program was lacking, and pointed particularly to brakes as a problem. In the case of one vehicle, the entire emergency stopping system was found to be inoperable. The inspection also faulted the company for failing to verify that drivers’ licenses were current.

Peterson Brothers officials said that any violations were quickly addressed and played no role in Thursday’s collision.

The agency’s records also show that Peterson Brothers received 24 citations between April and December of 2000, five of those for brake violations.

The company was notified three times that Saiz’s license had expired and that Saiz had tried unsuccessfully to renew the license, according to the DMV. McNabb said that DMV records are mistaken.

The company provided Anaheim police with all its records, including the report from December that the brakes might be faulty.

“We don’t know if that problem was fixed or not,” Anaheim Police traffic Sgt. Ben Hittesdorf said.

Also on Friday, police sifted through more than 100 photographs taken at the scene in their attempt to reconstruct the accident. An investigator visited Saiz at the hospital, but Hittesdorf said it probably will take more time to get a complete statement from Saiz because of his condition.

Local residents and Larkin’s family converted the accident scene--still covered with a web of skid marks--into a memorial to the popular optometrist, leaving behind flowers, a teddy bear and a card that read “To Our Precious Son.” The residents and family plan to have a rally Monday, urging the city to ban truck traffic on the street.

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Times staff writers Stanley Allison, Jerry Hicks, Mai Tran and Kimi Yoshino contributed to this story.