A South Carolina truck driver and his company are facing over $1.6 million in restitution and penalties after a drunk-driving crash resulted in a hazardous materials spill.
Dennis Eugene West, 57, of Moncks Corner, South Carolina, pleaded guilty on October 9 on behalf of himself and Gadsden, Gaillard and West LLC, the trucking business he was working for at the time of the crash, each for negligent discharge of pollutants into U.S. waters.
According to court documents, on August 24, 2022, West was driving a tractor trailer on Interstate 77 in West Virginia when he crashed while crossing Skitter Creek Bridge in Fayette County.
“During the crash, the tractor-trailer flipped over the median barrier wall, blocking all northbound and southbound lanes, and causing damage to the median barrier,” a local TV station reported at the time. The truck caught fire during the crash, according to the report.
West was carrying a load of 275-gallon bins of alkyl dimethylamine, a chemical used in detergents. Many of the bins ruptured as a result of the crash, with thousands of gallons of the chemical spilling onto the bridge and ultimately into Paint Creek, a tributary of the Kanawha River.
The discharge continued into the next day, which “temporarily caused adverse impacts to the aquatic life of the creek, including the killing of several species of fish,” according to the court filing.
“As part of his guilty plea, West admitted that he operated the tractor trailer under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash,” the U.S. Attorney’s office stated in a press release. “Law enforcement determined that West’s blood alcohol content (BAC) was more than 0.08 percent.
“West Virginia law prohibits any person from operating a commercial motor vehicle with a BAC of 0.04 percent or more. Neither West nor his company had a permit issued pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act to discharge pollutants, including alkyl dimethylamine, into Paint Creek or any other water in West Virginia.”
Court documents show that both West and Gadsden, Gaillard and West LLC owe restitution of up to $1.65 million as a result of the chemical spill and aftereffects..
West also faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison, up to one year of supervised release, and a $100,000 fine. Gadsden, Gaillard and West faces a maximum penalty of up to five years of federal probation and a $200,000 fine.
West and the company are scheduled to be sentenced on January 29, 2026.
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