In the previous six Blog entries I’ve reported about a terrible accident Mary and I lived through seven days ago. In case you missed those entries, here are the links…

http://wp.me/pDCku-4Eh

http://wp.me/pDCku-4Ep

http://wp.me/pDCku-4EE

http://wp.me/pDCku-4FD

http://wp.me/pDCku-4Gq

http://wp.me/pDCku-4Hh

In today’s Blog entry I want to discuss the driver, Deschennes Davison. We are told his friends call him Denny and that he has a wife and five young children.

THE REASON I WANT TO DISCUSS HIM IS BECAUSE I WANT THE WORLD, AND ESPECIALLY THE CHINLE, ARIZONA NAVAJO COMMUNITY TO KNOW HE IS A VERY PROFESSIONAL AND CAPABLE DRIVER AND IN NO WAY HAS ANY RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR THE TRAGIC ACCIDENT. I SHOULD NOW…BECAUSE MARY AND I WERE SITTING DIRECTLY BEHIND HIM AND SAW EVERYTHING!

We found him to be a very nice, soft-spoken man with a wonderful knowledge of the area’s history. At the beginning of the tour he introduced himself to us as Davison. During the tour, when we had stopped at a particular site, he would sit atop the half-high driver’s door and tell us the history of the site. I took this photo at one of those stops…

I took this photo of the driver’s compartment from our seat directly behind the driver…

During the trip I looked over the top of the driver’s cab and took some photos of the roads on which he was driving…

This last photo was taken at our lunch stop location. The tragic accident occurred shortly after our departure from this site…

After the accident and after getting out from under the truck, a rescuer assisted me in lying down under a shade tree about 50 yards from to accident scene while others attended to the more seriously injured. Mary took photos of Davison assisting in the digging-out of other passengers. Later Davison came and sat under the shade tree with me and we talked some.

He told me he was suffering from back and side pains. I asked how many times a week he drove this all-day tour and he replied two to three. I asked how long he had been driving these all-day tours and he replied…eleven years. He then quickly added…without an accident. I did some quick mental math and came up with around 1,250 trips.

In closing, I want to reiterate…I was sitting directly behind Davison and I saw everything. He did everything humanly possible in the about 2-3 seconds from when the steering failed (see my second Blog entry) until we were headed over the ravine’s edge. I have told his employer and several accident investigators the same thing. Davison has no responsibility or liability in this tragic accident.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012

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