Man Pleads Innocent to 10 Counts of Negligent Homicide in Ottawa County OK

The Joplin Globe published a story about a traffic accident in Oklahoma that I just find puzzling. Here is the story.

The Joplin Globe reports that a truck driver has turned himself in to Ottawa County officials after being involved in an accident. The story implied that the truck driver was wanted by Ottawa County and is facing 10 counts of negligent homicide. The truck driver is Donald L. Creed of Willard, MO. Mr. Creed is 76 years old. The story states that Mr. Creed turned himself in on Wednesday and was accompanied by his attorney at the time. Mr. Creed entered a plea of not guilty. His bond was set at $20,000. The story states Mr. Creed was driving his truck on I-44 in Ottawa County Oklahoma when he failed to slow or stop for congested traffic. Mr. Creed reportedly plowed into the rear of the congested traffic causing a chain reaction of accidents. The accident involved seven different vehicles and fatally injured ten people. Mr. Creed’s tractor-trailer he was driving is owned by Associates Wholesale Grocers.

First of all this is a terrible tragedy leaving 10 broken families and my prayers go out to them. This story does make me question what happened though as the story is a little light on the facts. Now I’m sure with this being an ongoing investigation that the law enforcement officials aren’t releasing much information if any at all. The first thing that screams at me is if Mr. Creed committed such a terrible crime then why was he released after the accident and not taken into custody at that time. The second thing is he was held on a puny $20,000.00? This guy is accused of killing ten people! This ridiculously low bond amount makes me wonder what else happened that isn’t being publicized. Now Mr. Creed did appear with his attorney which is sometimes an indicator that he screwed up and is trying to get out of it but on the other hand, if I was being accused of something I didn’t feel I was guilty of then I would have an attorney with me to. The questions that come to mind are why did he plow into these vehicles? Was he asleep? Perhaps his brakes malfunctioned? These things should have been checked at the scene and if the judge had this information that may explain the low bond amount. If the vehicle was to blame what action is being taken against the company? Another thing I’m curious about would be Mr. Creed’s CDL DOT physical. Now I admittedly know nothing about the truck driving industry but I really don’t think I have noticed that many truck drivers of Mr. Creed’s age. Did his age play a factor in his poor reaction time?

This is an interesting story and does report a few facts but I feel there is much more going on behind the scenes. I will be interested to find out the details of this incident.