Driver Pleads Not Guilty in Fatal Freeway Accident
A Los Angeles city truck driver charged with vehicular manslaughter after a March 5 accident that tied up the Hollywood Freeway and left one man dead entered a not guilty plea in court Friday.
An attorney for Louis C. Gysin, 52, pleaded not guilty to one misdemeanor count of vehicle manslaughter in the Metropolitan Branch Traffic Court. A pretrial motion is scheduled for Nov. 25.
Gysin, an employee of the city Bureau of Street Services, was driving south on the Hollywood Freeway in a truck equipped with a crane after a day of storm-related repairs in the San Fernando Valley. As he neared Universal Center Drive, the truck veered sharply and careened across several lanes of traffic, launching over the center divider into the northbound lanes.
Roger Randall, a county communications repairman, was killed and seven others were injured in the accident. The freeway was closed for nearly 12 hours.
A California Highway Patrol investigation determined that fatigue and an overloaded vehicle caused the crash, authorities said.
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