Riverside Firefighter Charged With Manslaughter
(AP) HEMET, Calif. A Riverside County firefighter was charged with vehicular manslaughter for some safety slip-ups that led to the death of a fellow firefighter in a 2005 engine accident.
Michael Lawrence Arizaga was driving the fire engine at about 45 miles per hour through a rainstorm when it spun off a freeway and rolled down a 44-foot embankment, investigators said.
CHP officers said 23-year-old Christopher Kanton wasn't wearing a seat belt and was flung from the vehicle.
Arizaga was at fault because he failed to switch off a special engine brake that must be deactivated in rain or snow, investigators said.
They also said he should have been traveling about 15 miles per hour slower and that it had been his responsibility to make sure Kanton was wearing a seat belt.
He's due in court in September and could face up to a year in county jail if convicted.
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