The dying of a 19-year-old school scholar on a Texas freeway is elevating questions concerning the fleet of drivers Amazon makes use of to maneuver packages between its amenities. College freshman Iliana Velez’s life was reduce brief in a crash with a contractor who was driving to select up an Amazon load.
A University of Texas freshman, Velez was working nights sorting packages half time at an Amazon success heart.
In the early morning hours of Jan. 3, 2022, Velez was on a break when she was compelled off the highway by a field truck pushed by Jordan Sannicola, a contractor on his strategy to decide up an Amazon cargo. Velez’s automotive rolled a number of instances. She died on the scene.
CBS News
Her mom, Trula Velez, acquired the information from police that very same night.
“The officer knocked on my door and he mentioned that she was concerned in an accident, and she or he did not make it,” she mentioned. “I used to be such in a state of shock.”
When Sannicola was arrested 4 weeks later, investigators discovered he had a historical past of site visitors violations, a suspended driver’s license and excellent felony warrants, together with one rely of evading arrest with a car. He instructed police he was utilizing a hand-held cellular machine when he collided with Iliana Velez’s automotive.
“Someone with a number of warrants mustn’t have been employed,” Trula Velez mentioned.
San Marcos Police Department
A lawsuit filed by Trula Velez alleges Amazon had beforehand rejected Sannicola’s utility to ship packages for the corporate’s “flex” residence supply service after he failed a background test. Still, he was capable of drive for an Amazon-contracted firm. Despite his prison historical past and driving file, Take Flight with B, a North Carolina motor provider firm, employed Sannicola to maneuver Amazon freight.
Missed warning indicators?
The Velez household lawyer, Alex Hilliard, claims that due to the background test, Amazon was “totally conscious” of Sannicola’s poor driving file and prison background when he began driving for Take Flight, which transported items between Amazon amenities on a section of the supply community often known as the “center mile.”
The lawsuit additionally alleges monitoring know-how offered by the Relay phone application Amazon makes use of to observe driver location and efficiency had knowledgeable the corporate of Sannicola’s unsafe driving conduct, however it did not act.
“Mr. Sannicola had 70 totally different dashing violations [while working for Take Flight] that Amazon had been notified of,” mentioned Hilliard. “They did nothing about that.”
A CBS News evaluation of federal security information revealed Amazon contractors primarily within the firm’s “middle-mile” supply community had month-to-month violation charges — corresponding to dashing and texting whereas driving — that have been normally double these of carriers who did not transport for Amazon. The evaluation examined six years of month-to-month Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) unsafe driving charges and located the common charges of carriers who shipped for Amazon have been at the very least 89% larger in each month.
“I used to be shocked,” mentioned Jason Miller, a professor at Michigan State University who’s an skilled in provide chain administration. “I’ve revealed many articles utilizing these information. You don’t see results like this usually, the place you may have a set of carriers that’s nearly twice as unsafe as a special set of carriers.”
CBS News used roadside inspection reviews in federal information to determine Amazon contractors. The reviews, that are produced by legislation enforcement, point out who a provider mentioned they have been transport for on the time of inspection. The evaluation included carriers who shipped at the very least as soon as for Amazon within the two years main as much as every month examined.
Miller mentioned the massive patchwork of contractors Amazon makes use of for “middle-mile” transport poses challenges to making sure a uniform tradition of security.
“The extra you might be primarily having your freight hauled by a whole lot, if not 1000’s of small younger corporations, that makes it rather more troublesome to make sure these corporations are working safely versus a extra – what we name strategic procurement mannequin, the place you could have just a few very massive carriers that you simply work with that deal with quite a lot of freight,” mentioned Miller.
In the previous two years, at the very least 57 individuals have died in additional than 4 dozen crashes involving federally regulated carriers transport for Amazon, in response to FMCSA information, although the info doesn’t point out who was at fault in these incidents. The FMCSA produces a crash involvement rating for carriers, however it isn’t public.
Amazon’s response
“Any fatality is heartbreaking,” mentioned Tim Goodman, Amazon’s international authorized director for highway security. “Any households which were affected by this all have our condolences and our hearts exit to them.”
While Amazon mandates background checks for contracted drivers who ship on to clients’ properties, Goodman mentioned the corporate seems to be to the FMCSA to supervise “middle-mile” contractors who transfer freight between amenities in bigger autos.
A spokeswoman for FMCSA confirmed it requires contractors who dispatch industrial motor autos with a gross car weight ranking of greater than 10,000 kilos to conduct background checks into drivers’ security efficiency historical past as a situation of employment.
Amazon mentioned when the corporate learns a contracted provider has violated FMCSA pointers, the provider can face penalties, together with everlasting suspension.
“We have taken disciplinary motion towards round 19,000 motor carriers for failing to satisfy FMCSA security necessities,” Goodman mentioned.
Among these carriers is Take Flight with B, the contractor that employed Jordan Sannicola. Amazon confirmed it suspended Take Flight with B completely from its contracted fleet. The motor provider has since gone out of enterprise.
Goodman defended Amazon’s persevering with reliance on third-party trucking contractors to maneuver its freight and ship packages.
“In the United States, transportation with motor carriers is pushed by impartial companies, small companies,” mentioned Goodman. “It has been that means since at the very least the Carter administration.”
“We are distinctive at Amazon by way of our scale,” Goodman mentioned. “But it is a enterprise mannequin that has labored, and labored effectively, and we’re dedicated to having it’s a catalyst to have the ability to enhance security for the roads for all of us.”
CBS News
Amazon disputes CBS News’ information findings. In a press release despatched after the interview, a spokesperson mentioned: “We’ve labored carefully with CBS all through this story, and are disenchanted that they proceed to make use of information primarily based on a flawed methodology. We take security extremely severely and the reality is that general crash charges throughout third social gathering carriers that we work with have improved. Our requirements are stricter than FMCSA necessities, and we’ll proceed working to make sure our companions are the most secure carriers on the highway.”
Among different complaints, the corporate took challenge with how CBS News recognized Amazon contractors—it mentioned inspection reviews typically checklist the mistaken shipper—and the way CBS News measured a provider’s security.
Amazon measures security utilizing the FMCSA’s “unsafe driving rating,” which is a quantity that applies totally different requirements relying on the scale of the provider. This rating shouldn’t be made public by the federal government, however the underlying information is. Rather than rating the carriers by measurement, CBS News seemed immediately on the underlying charges of unsafe driving violations like texting and dashing.
CBS News consulted with a number of main provide chain researchers, who all use FMCSA measures in peer-reviewed research. Alex Scott, a University of Tennessee professor and skilled in provide chain administration, mentioned he doesn’t use the FMCSA’s scores partly as a result of they make smaller carriers seem safer than they’re.
“I do not assume that makes any sense,” Scott mentioned. “If they’re much less secure, then they’re much less secure.”
What the court docket system says
On Oct. 11, a choose sentenced Jordan Sannicola to a 40-year jail time period for the cost of “failing to cease and render help — accident involving dying” within the crash that killed Iliana Velez.
San Marcos Police Department
“One mistake value somebody’s life, and that was my daughter’s, and her life was simply getting began,” Trula Valez mentioned.
A court docket date for her lawsuit towards Amazon is ready for early 2025.
