BLUEFIELD, Va. — A Mercer County tractor-trailer driver was out of work Thursday after a dash-cam video emerged of his trailer clipping the side of a Coweta County, Ga., deputy sheriff’s car and the vehicle that the deputy had stopped for speeding.
Michael Ray Derossett, 36, of Princeton had been driving for Bluefield Transport since June 2009, but the company immediately fired him after learning of the incident that occurred Wednesday morning at 9:15 a.m., on I-85, about two miles south of the Moreland, Ga., exit. Published reports of the wreck indicated that Coweta Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jeff Bugg had gone to the passenger side of the vehicle he stopped for speeding and was in the process of obtaining information from the motorist when Derossett’s rig sideswiped both vehicles.
Other deputies trailed Derossett to a nearby truck stop, and held him until an officer with the Georgia State Patrol could arrive. The patrolman observed Derossett’s behavior and arrested him on charges of driving under the influence of drugs. During a search of the truck, the patrolman discovered several prescription drugs on the floorboard of the truck.
“We strive to maintain an excellent safety record,” David Perkins, operations manager of Bluefield Transit said. “We have a zero tolerance policy toward this type of behavior. While we are thankful that nobody was seriously injured, we took immediate action and let the employee go. We also posted a statement on our web site, apologizing for the actions of our former employee and to say that actions like that are not condoned and don’t represent the common business practices of our company.”
Perkins said that Derossett has passed all his previous drug screens required by the company as well as drug screening required by the federal Department of Transportation. “We have drug and alcohol screenings,” he said. “We do our best to make sure our drivers are safe. We pride ourselves on the safety record of the 36 units we have on the road and our 128 trailers. We want to make it clear his actions are not condoned.”
The dashboard camera on Bugg’s patrol vehicle recorded the incident. The video of the wreck was aired on television station web sites in the Atlanta, Ga., area.
Perkins said Bluefield Transport drivers attended a safety meeting on Thursday and said the company has scheduled another in two weeks. “We want to make sure all of our drivers can work out their schedules so they can attend the meeting,” Perkins said.
– Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com
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