VAN
DRIVER LACKED VALID LICENSE
(As reported in Daily Southtown)
By Chris
Hack
Staff Writer
May 3, 2001
Lawyers
suing the Salvation Army over the van crash near Joliet
that killed 11 people said Wednesday their wrongful death
claims are much stronger because the van's driver didn't
have a valid driver's license.
Garneal
T. Matthews, 44, actually had two different records with
the Illinois Secretary of State's office: One showed him
having a valid license; another indicated he couldn't legally
drive, the lawyers found.
And
lawyers representing the families of the victims are changing
their wrongful death lawsuits against the Salvation Army
to claim the charity negligently hired Matthews.
The
Jan. 26 accident on Interstate 55 just south of Interstate
80 near Joliet instantly killed Matthews and nine other
Chicago residents on their way to visit friends and family
at two downstate prisons.
The
2000 Dodge passenger van was in the left lane just south
of Interstate 80 when it lost control, skidded across the
grass median and into oncoming traffic, where it was hit
broadside by a 1985 Mack semi truck hauling telephone books.
The
collision crushed the van and threw four people onto the
highway.
All
but one of the van's occupants was declared dead at the
scene. The lone survivor, 24-year-old Shawanda Cross, died
12 days later at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood.
Although
secretary of state officials said in the days after the
crash that Matthews had a valid license and a clean driving
record, it turns out a 1974 hit-and-run conviction resulted
in his driving privileges being revoked.
Despite
that conviction, Matthews was able to get a license in 1994
— probably because a state employee only checked his Social
Security number, not his name, plaintiff attorneys said.
In
1974, Matthews did not have a driver's license, so he did
not have a record with the secretary of state under his
Social Security number.
Plaintiff
lawyers said Wednesday they are checking to see if Salvation
Army officials did their own background checks on job candidates
when Matthews was hired, or if they contracted with an independent
firm to do the research.
Either
way, the lawyers claim Matthews never should have been hired.
"His
employer should have known about it," said Timothy
Cavanagh, a lawyer representing the family of crash victim
Jill Henry. "If they had taken the extra 10 seconds
to punch in his name, they wouldn't have been hired him."
The
lawyer representing the Salvation Army could not be reached
for comment Wednesday.
A
coroner's inquest ultimately determined the crash was an
accident, with officials saying bad weather contributed
to the collision.
An
autopsy of Matthews showed he had no medical problems —
such as a heart attack or stroke — that could have caused
the crash. A toxicology test revealed he had taken an acceptable
amount of an over-the-counter cold medicine.
