A lawyer for the company was on the news yesterday claiming the violations cited on the vehicle had been fixed, and they were minor in nature to begin with.
They don't arrest an owner of the company if there were no active violations on the vehicle. Seems like Mr. Lawyer Dude didn't do a great job of spinning the facts here.
Also, in a few articles I've seen something similar to this:
The (lawyer) statement said Lisinicchia was "a loving and caring man who never would have knowingly put others in harm's way. The family believes that unbeknownst to him he was provided with a vehicle that was neither roadworthy nor safe for any of its occupants."
Anyone with a CDL knows the procedure: It doesn't matter who owns the vehicle. YOU are the driver. It is the driver's responsibility to review the vehicle and look for issues. The driver has to do what is necessary to check lights, wipers, brakes, fluids, etc. If there are any issues, bring them up to the company, owner, etc. If you believe the vehicle is unsafe to drive, don't drive it. The minute you're on the road, you're the one responsible.
Of course, what if there's a safety issue and the driver doesn't want to drive it? The owner will probably send him home, and he won't get paid. Or maybe, the owner says FU, and fires him from the job. Sucks. Big time. The driver needs money to live. He's caught in the middle. But then again, such as in this case, he probably would still be alive, and so are his passengers.
The family is devastated no doubt. But even if the driver was issued the vehicle to drive, he ultimately should have not driven it.