Amazon is well-known for its swift delivery services, often promising to get packages to customers within a matter of hours or days. However, our investigation has raised concerns about who exactly is responsible for driving these products to the warehouse and at what expense this service is being maintained.
Throughout Florida, from sorrowful families to various legal settings, our comprehensive investigation uncovered a disturbing pattern. Numerous trucking companies contracted by Amazon, many with questionable or absent safety records, have been involved in significant crashes. Industry experts point to a lack of oversight within Amazon’s fast-growing freight operations, suggesting this contributes to a growing accountability crisis on U.S. roadways.
A mother lost, a lawsuit filed:
Company had license revoked
While placing a large tub on his couch, Alex Robinson began to open it. He never thought that the box would hold the only tangible memories of his mother, Christine. It was filled with photos capturing a life that consisted solely of the two of them.
“My father died in 1991, and I was four years old. He died suddenly,” Robinson said. “So, after that, it was just me and her, I had no siblings. Anything I did was with her.”
He never thought he’d have to spend any of his life without her.
“We had talked about going to Italy together,” Robinson said.
On Aug. 28, 2021, Christine Robinson was a passenger in a Toyota Tundra truck stopped in traffic on I-75 in Charlotte County. According to the Florida Highway Patrol report, a semi-truck failed to stop, rear-ending the truck.
“I found out she was in the ICU and she was being kept alive by being intubated,” Robinson said.
Enough time for Alex to be by his mom’s side one last time.
“They let us say our goodbyes, and that was the last time I saw her was the hospital bed and that was the worst day of my life,” Robinson said.
After wrapping his mind around the fact his mother was now gone, he worked to understand how and why the crash happened.
“I never dreamed this would happen. This thing doesn’t happen. Like to people like her,” Robinson said.
The driver of the crash was cited for careless driving and driving for a company Robinson’s lawyer says had a questionable history.
“Absolutely, 100%,” Joe Camerlengo, a lawyer with the Truck Accident Law Firm, said. “They literally had no safety history other than some inspections that they failed more than they passed.”
Taking a closer look at the Tampa-based trucking company, CRD Transportation Service was first granted its license by the Department of Transportation back in 2007. Records show that three months later, its license was revoked. Then in 2008, the company was reinstated again only to have its license revoked, the same thing in 2012, and then in 2020, the company opened again.
“About eight months or so before this crash, they reopened,” Camerlengo said.
This time, he says, to do one thing — deliver goods for Amazon.
“That’s all they do is run Amazon Freight, and then, they drive in and stop traffic and killed two people and injured a bunch,” Camerlengo said.
It’s why he says he filed a lawsuit against the trucking company and Amazon. He says they are responsible for who they hire.
Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson tells us:
“We extend our deepest condolences to these families and know that nothing we say will take away the hurt they continue to feel. We require any carrier who does business with us to follow our strict policies and procedures that go beyond the industry standards, and the carrier involved in this case is permanently barred from working with us.”
