Dear Times Publisher Eddy Hartenstein:
[img]1935|right|Ms. Gamboa||no_popup[/img]Please let us Los Angeles Times readers know what KNBC viewers have known since Wednesday about the 7-Eleven store Downtown bus killing.
Would reporting the name of the tow truck operator who is accused of slaying the MTA bus operator – Mr. Youssef Adhami – be an act of Political Incorrectness?
Why don't you print Damien Newton's (Streetsblog LA) comments below as an op-ed in the L.A. Times because your (cowardly?) News Editor won't touch this guy Youssef with a 10-foot pole?
From the TV news coverage below, Mr. Adhami appears to be above the law, doesn't he?
Why are you all so nervous about this case at the Times? (You have the right to remain silent.)
Fatal Tow Truck Driver Had History of Unsafe Driving, Lacked Permits
By Damien Newton
By now, you have doubtless heard the sad story of Olivia Gamboa. The 47-year-old Metro bus driver was killed (Wednesday) in a horrific crash that involved an out-of-control tow truck and a 7-Eleven store. You can read all of the details of the crash in our headlines round up. It kind of makes me ill to write about it.
However, it wasn’t until (Wednesday) evening that NBC 4 broke the news that the tow truck driver, Yousef Adhami, has a history of unsafe driving and no longer has a valid driver’s license. In fact, the tow truck company Adhami owns, Adhami’s Hermosa Beach Towing, does not have a permit to legally operate in California.
Let’s count the number of warning flags in Mr. Adhami’s record:
1. Adhami does not have a current driver’s license.
2. Adhami’s license was suspended four times between 2009 and today
3. Adhami’s Hermosa Beach Towing does not have a license to operate
As awful as (Wednesday’s) crash was, as we mourn we must also take a moment to realize that this crash was avoidable, and not just if Adhami had a shred of responsibility, but if we as a society took traffic safely seriously.
How is this man allowed to own tow trucks or a tow truck company?
What gap in the system doesn’t have this man’s property “temporarily” confiscated when he owns a towing company and operates trucks without a license or permit?
Adhami will doubtless face some jail time. The short arm of traffic law tends to come down on unsafe drivers unlucky enough to star in a media story, but the system already let down Gamboa…and likely continues to let down the rest of us.
How many have to die before serial traffic violators are treated as the criminals they are before they kill someone?
Mr. Walsh may be contacted at hollywoodhighlands.org
