Truck involved in fatal I-20 wreck said to be carrying city waste

ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has learned that the truck involved in a deadly crash on Interstate 20 last week was hauling solid waste for the city of Atlanta at the time.

Cameron McIlwain, 8, died when parts of the truck's transmission flew into his mother's car.

Channel 2's Richard Belcher dug into the company's relationship with the city and found out that C.W. Transport has a history of federal safety violations.

In last week's wreck, parts apparently from the truck were clearly visible at the scene

Investigators said some of them flew across the median, killing McIlwain and badly injuring his mother, Jameka Malone.

Belcher learned much of C.W. Transport's maintenance is done by Metro Truck services on University Avenue in Atlanta, but the company said it does not work on transmissions.

"We have did work on that truck," Willis Perry from Metro Truck Services said.

"Did you do shoddy work?" Belcher asked Perry.

"Uh, no, sir," Perry responded.

"Whose fault was it?" Belcher asked. .

"Uh, wasn't anybody's fault. I mean, um, as I see it, I saw it as an accident," Perry said.

The attorney for C.W. Transport said the company was hauling solid waste for the city of Atlanta when the wreck occurred.

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C.W. is a subcontractor for Republic Services of Georgia, which has the contract with City Hall.

Does that link leave the city of Atlanta open to a lawsuit from the victims?

"It's always very difficult … to go after any governmental entity," attorney Bob Wilson said.

Wilson said there are very few circumstances in which victims successfully sue a government agency, even if the agency is responsible for an accident.

"Are there circumstances where individual tragedies like this happen and a city or a county or a state may not bear any responsibility?" Belcher asked Wilson.

"Absolutely. All the time," Wilson answered.

 Sonji Jacobs, a representative for Mayor Kasim Reed, sent an email disputing that C.W. Transport was hauling city waste.

Jacobs said the primary contractor is paid to pick up at a substation that includes waste from Atlanta and others, so there is no way to know if the truck involved in the accident was hauling city waste.

C.W. Transport's attorney said flatly his client was hauling city waste.

WSBTV