Truck driver charged with manslaughter for not taking medication for seizures

A New Jersey garbage truck driver was charged with manslaughter on Wednesday after a truck he was driving in Manhattan on Tuesday veered out of control, jumped a curb and killed two tourists from England, the police said.

Investigators said that the driver, Auvryn Scarlett, 52, of Irvington, N.J., had suffered a seizure, and was either unconscious or losing consciousness when he lost control of the garbage truck. They said that he was charged because he had not taken prescribed medication that he needed to prevent such seizures.

The crash took place at 10:28 p.m. on Tuesday on West 35th Street, between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of Americas; it was a frigid, snowy night with slick driving conditions across the city. The police said that Mr. Scarlett’s truck, owned by Action Carting Environmental Services of Newark, was traveling west, and struck lamp posts and storefronts before striking three people.

The police identified the two who died as Andrew Hardie and Jacklyn Timmons, both 47, from Yeovil in southern England. They were hit on the sidewalk near the entrance to the hotel where they were staying, the Comfort Inn Manhattan at 42 West 35th Street. They were scheduled to check out of the hotel on Wednesday.

The other person who was hit, Abayomi Henderson, 23, of Queens, was also on the sidewalk nearby. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center, where he was in serious condition, the police said on Wednesday.

Paul J. Browne, a police spokesman, said another man was in the cab of the truck driven by Mr. Scarlett when it lost control. Mr. Browne said the passenger, whose identity was not disclosed, became alarmed when Mr. Scarlett behaved erratically and began to foam at the mouth. The passenger tried to wrest the steering wheel away and take control of the truck, but was unable to prevent it from leaving the street, Mr. Browne said.

The passenger was not injured. Mr. Scarlett did not sustain serious injuries in the crash, but was taken to St. Vincent’s Midtown Hospital for treatment of his seizure and medical ailment. The police said they were uncertain of the type of ailment from which he suffered. Mr. Scarlett remained at St. Vincent’s on Wednesday night.

Phone messages left at a number listed under Mr. Scarlett’s name were not returned Wednesday. Officials of Action Carting did not return a phone call.

The police said that Mr. Scarlett told investigators that he had voluntarily stopped taking his medication.

Mr. Scarlett holds a commercial driver’s license in New Jersey that is in good standing, and his records do not indicate any past issues involving seizures or other medical problems, said Kevin Cranston, a spokesman for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission.

He said that anyone applying for a commercial driver’s license in New Jersey must provide a “fitness statement” from a doctor, and that it must be renewed every two years. Any commercial driver who is the subject of complaints about impaired driving because of a medical condition must undergo a medical review, he said.

“Obviously, this is a major incident involving fatalities and is something we would look into,” Mr. Cranston said. But he said that if Mr. Scarlett was “someone found to have recurrent seizures, there would have been automatic disqualification” of his commercial license.

Federal rules apply to commercial truckers who cross state lines. Those drivers are required under federal law to obtain a certificate indicating that they do not have a debilitating medical condition, and the certificate would have to be renewed every year, said Duane DeBruyne, a spokesman for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.