AN EPILEPTIC lorry driver who killed two British tourists, after suffering a seizure at the wheel, stopped taking his medicine two weeks before the crash, a prosecutor said yesterday.
Jacqueline Timmins, 47, and Andrew Hardie, 48, from Yeovil, Somerset, died when the 22-ton dustbin lorry smashed in to them on Valentine’s Day last year as they enjoyed a romantic break in New York.
Dustbin lorry driver Auvryn Scarlett, 53, is accused of killing the couple after losing control on West 35th Street, near Sixth Avenue.
It is alleged he had stopped taking the medication to control the condition.
Mother-of-four Ms Timmins and father-of-two Mr Hardie were hit by the truck as they walked from a restaurant to the Comfort Inn where they had been staying for a four-night city break. Manslaughter charges against Scarlett were upped to murder after prosecutors learned not only had the waste hauler stopped taking his medicine, he had also kept his condition secret from his employers for years.
Yesterday, at Manhattan Supreme Court, Assistant District Attorney Chris Ryan said Scarlett knew the risks and deliberately and consciously avoided them, the New York Post reported.
“He’s devoid of any moral sense of concern,” he said. “The accident was a tragedy and a murder.”
In opening statements, Mr Ryan claimed when Scarlett first started working for his first employer, Waste Management, in 1998, he presented a medical certificate saying he did not suffer from epilepsy, even though he had the illness. The prosecutor said Scarlett – a native of Jamaica who is now a US citizen – got the certificate by going to a doctor who was not his regular physician.
The court heard that, in May, 2007, Scarlett suffered a seizure and was off for four months. During that time, he got a job with a smaller firm, Action Carting of Newark, giving them the same certificate he had given to Waste Management. In October and November of 2007, he suffered seizures but still continued driving, Mr Ryan said.
Scarlett’s attorney, Michael Biniakewitz, claimed Scarlett was hired as a helper, not a driver, but he did not explain why he was driving on the night of the deaths.
If convicted, Scarlett could spend the rest of his life in jail.
