Truck Driver In Fatal Crash Won't Face Criminal Charges
The driver of the truck involved in an August 14

crash on the New Jersey

Turnpike in which three of four members of an Astoria family were killed has been charged with careless driving and violating federal truck brake regulations, according to New Jersey state police. Dimitrios Tseperkas of Port Jefferson, Long Island, will not face criminal charges.

On inspection, four of the 10 brakes on Tseperkas' flatbed tractor-trailer truck, registered to DTP Trucking at Tseperkas' Port Jefferson address, were found to fail federal regulations, and state police cited Tseperkas for that violation. Although he passed tests for narcotics and alcohol and was also found in compliance with hourly driving and working rules, the state police investigation attributed the crash to inattentiveness on Tseperkas' part. According to reports, Tseperkas has had seven prior accidents and 10 negligence lawsuits have been filed against him in 15 years. He is reported to have said that he logs some 100,000 miles every year.

Tseperkas, hauling a load of bricks, was driving at about 70 miles an hour

and left 138 feet of skid marks as he approached slowed traffic and then slammed into the Nissan Altima sedan occupied by Charles and Theresa Foti Christmas and their daughters, Victoria, three years old, and fouryear old Theresa. Charles, Theresa Foti and Victoria Christmas died in the crash and Theresa was injured. She left University Hospital of Newark several days after the accident and is now in the care of relatives.

As he approached stalled traffic near Teaneck, some four miles from the George Washington Bridge, Tseperkas slammed on his brakes, struck a median and veered out of control across the highway, hit another truck, slammed into the Christmas family car and sheared the roof off a Toyota 4Runner SUV. Both cars were pushed into another tractor-trailer and the SUV's driver, Norma Ryan of Voorhees, New Jersey, was also killed. Her two children, Peter, 12, and Samantha Ryan, one year old, and another passenger in the SUV, 64-yearold Maria Rosado of The Bronx, were taken to Hackensack University Hospital. All three sustained internal injuries.--Linda J. Wilson