NTSB report: Roper at fault
The NTSB rules that Roper is at fault for the fatal accident that killed comic James McNair and seriously injured Morgan. Their report says Roper had driven 800 miles before even reaching Walmart’s distribution center and at the time of the crash and had been up for 28 hours straight. Roper also failed to wear a seat belt and was traveling 20 miles per hour above the 45-mph speed limit when he hit the tour van carrying Morgan and six others. Morgan and the other passenger’s injuries were made worse because all but one of the van’s occupants was wearing a seat belt. The van had also been modified. NTSB Chairman Hart:
The passengers … had no available exits until emergency responders removed part of a plywood panel that had been installed between the passenger compartment and the cab. [The only other way of exiting, a sliding door] had become inoperable in the crash.
NTSB investigators recommended that Wal-Mart improve fatigue management programs for drivers and install better vehicle warning systems for drivers and delivery operators.
‘Traumatic brain injury’
Morgan’s attorney says that Morgan suffered a brain injury so traumatic in his June limo accident that he may never fully recover.
When you have a traumatic brain injury it takes a very long time to find out how you’re going to do and how much you’re going to recover. You just don’t know. So that’s where he is. He’s still fighting and trying to live his life at the same time and trying to get better, and he’s just not better. We’re hoping and praying to get him back to where he was. But the jury’s out. He’s fighting to get better, and if there’s a chance for him to be back to the Tracy Morgan he once was, he’s going to try to do that. But we just don’t know because of the severity of the injuries that he sustained and the fact that he had such a severe brain injury.
Driver tweets innocence
Claiming he is being targeted as a scapegoat because celebrities were involved, driver Kevin Roper sends out tweets of protest over the charges brought against him. Roper sent at least four tweets from his Twitter account, expressing his sorrow over the deaths and injuries, but claiming total lack of blame for the accident. Roper states he was not drunk, high, or sleep deprived at the time of the crash.