DATE: September 22,
2004
INCIDENT TYPE: Fatal
Injury, Flagger Facing Possible Criminal Charges (No Caltrans Employees
Involved)
LOCATION: District
6 - Fresno
TYPE OF WORK ACTIVITY:
Flagging
THE INCIDENT: The
following is a recent newspaper article:
The Fresno Bee (Updated
Wednesday, September 22, 2004, 10:22 AM)
"Flagger May Face Charges In Death" By Marc
Benjamin
May accident killed a Clovis East teen and injured her friend.
A traffic flagger may be
charged with manslaughter stemming from a May accident that killed a
Clovis East High School student and seriously injured her friend. Witnesses
said flagger Kathryn Ann Fifer, 25, of Sanger was working on May 7 when
the accident occurred on Fowler Avenue near Belmont Avenue. Witnesses
said she had moved the stop sign away from herself and waved her arm,
leading the driver of the car to believe it was safe to move ahead.
Seconds later, a Caterpillar earth-moving vehicle slammed into the car,
killing passenger Kimberly Marie Hamilton, 16, and seriously injuring
the driver, Rebecca Lynn Carey, 16. Whether charges are filed will be
decided by the Fresno County District Attorney's Office.
In her statement to California
Highway Patrol investigators, Rebecca said she saw Fifer talking to
a man on the road's shoulder. "The flag girl then lowered her sign down
towards her side and walked to the shoulder," the girl told investigators
in the CHP's accident report. Rebecca then said she drove ahead slowly
in the southbound lane of Fowler Avenue. When she saw the other flagger
with his sign still being held up, Rebecca said she "thought it was
kind of strange that the man was still standing there," the CHP report
said. The next thing she remembered was her friend Kimberly screaming,
she said. Another witness, Maxine Vasquez, 37, gave a similar account.
She said Fifer was talking to someone in a red truck and then watched
Fifer lower the sign "down to her thigh level and waved her left hand
from the elbow out, for the car to go." Vasquez told investigators it
"was obvious to her the stop lady motioned the blue car through." Fifer
said she was continuing to hold the stop sign up as she walked toward
a pickup truck that was following the earth-moving vehicle. She asked
the driver, Dean Carlton, if he wanted to go, but he mouthed "no" to
her. She said Rebecca's car had to swerve to get around her and she
pounded a rear door and yelled "hey" to urge her to stop. The driver
of the Caterpillar, Mike Hernandez, 55, said Fifer had not been doing
her job as flagger properly, the CHP report said. He said she was making
motions toward the man in the truck on the east side of the road. While
he said he did not see Fifer dropping her sign, Hernandez said she had
been flirting with men on the construction site and previously saw her
throw water balloons at scrapers as they passed. Joe Duke, 49, of Clovis,
said he watched Fifer drop the sign to her waist and then motion with
her left hand over her right shoulder. As soon as she motioned over
her right shoulder the blue car traveled southbound, Duke said in the
CHP report.
In determining the accident's
cause, CHP investigators said the lowered stop sign observed by witnesses
combined with Fifer walking to the roadside "could lead an individual
to believe that it was safe to proceed forward through the construction
zone." Todd Barsotti, the attorney representing Mary Sappington, Kimberly's
mother, said "there are going to be some other issues" brought up when
the case is heard in court, but declined further comment on the case.
"It is such a tragedy," Barsotti said. "Kimberly had been given an assignment
at school that day and was asked 'what makes you genuinely happy' and
she said hanging out with her mom.' " That afternoon she was en route
to buying her mother a Mother's Day gift, he said. "She and her mom
were very close," Barsotti said. "It's every parent's worst nightmare."
CONCLUSIONS: This
article clearly shows the importance of proper flagging procedures and
the possible consequences to the public as well as the flagger.
RECOMMENDATIONS: All
flaggers should receive proper training before being placed in charge
of traffic control. Refer to Chapter 8.27 (Flagging Operations) of the
Caltrans Maintenance Manual for more information.
