A Marine faces charges in a fatal rollover. But is the Corps to blame?
By Hope Hodge Seck
Mar 27, 04:21 PM
In this image taken from video, authorities work at the scene of a fatal crash after a military truck overturned, Jan. 19, 2022, near Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. (WITN via AP)
As court-martial proceedings begin for the Marine behind the wheel in a fatal vehicle rollover that took place outside Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in 2022, he’ll be getting support inside the courtroom from an unlikely source: several of the parents of Marines killed and hurt in the tragedy.
Lance Cpl. Luis Ponce-Barrera, 20, faces charges of manslaughter and reckless operation of a vehicle in the January 2022 rollover of a medium tactical vehicle replacement, or 7-ton truck, that he’d been driving to a landing zone on base.
The 19 Marines in the back were ejected. One, 18-year-old Pfc. Zachary Riffle, was fatally crushed by the truck, and another, 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Jonathan Gierke, was hit and killed in the traffic median by a following joint light tactical vehicle that couldn’t stop in time. All the other troops were injured, some critically.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2023/03/27/a-marine-faces-charges-in-a-fatal-rollover-but-is-the-corps-to-blame/
