Supervisor Suspended in Trash Truck Deaths

The city maintenance supervisor who failed to keep a defective trash truck off the streets before it was involved in a school bus accident that killed two boys has been suspended from his job without pay for 60 days, Los Angeles officials said Thursday.

David Wear, an 18-year city employee, has been on administrative leave with pay since a hydraulic piston burst through the side of the city truck and sliced through a school bus, killing 8-year-olds Brian Serrano and Francisco Mata.

The suspension without pay took effect Thursday.

Wear described the suspension as a partial victory because personnel officials at the Department of General Services had recommended that he be fired. Still, Wear said he will appeal the suspension to the city’s Civil Service Commission.

“I’m happy that I’m not fighting for my job any more but it’s still going to be appealed through my union,” he said.

Wear, 55, has acknowledged that he failed to place the truck on the hold list to keep it off the street even though a driver flagged it for repairs the day before the accident.

But Wear contends that he simply made a clerical error and that the disciplinary action should be based on the severity of the mistake and not on the consequences. He noted that similar errors have gone unpunished in the past.

“I have not seen the police report [on the accident] but I believe it will show that I had no direct responsibility,” he said.

Randall Bacon, general manager of the Department of General Services, issued the suspension but said in a statement that his office would not comment on the action because of state confidentiality laws regarding disciplinary actions.

Wear’s union representative, Michael Berman of the City Supervisors’ Assn., said he filed an appeal, contending that the disciplinary action is far too severe.

“Dave is the only person in this situation who has been disciplined,” Berman added.

On another front, the city has been besieged with legal claims in connection with the accident.

In December, the families of both boys filed claims totaling more than $65 million. Brian’s mother, Maria Serrano, filed a lawsuit against the city, naming the city, the truck driver and Wear as defendants.

In addition, the families of 13 of the 48 children on the bus have also filed claims for physical and psychological damage caused by the accident and by witnessing the gruesome death of the two boys. Most did not specify how much they seek from the city.