THE SAD CASE OF CURTIS C. DUNN
Dunn was the tractor-trailer driver involved in the December 1972 accident that took the life of the newly-elected U.S. Senator’s first wife, Neilia Biden, and 13-month-old daughter, Naomi.
The facts are that Joe Biden’s wife accidentally drove into the path of the tractor-trailer. She was killed, along with their baby daughter. His two sons were seriously injured.
For decades, Joe Biden lied about the cause of the accident as he exploited the accident to promote his candidacy. He shamefully changed the details of the story, claiming the driver was drunk and responsible for the accident.
Alcohol was not involved. Somehow the police reports were lost. But, fortunately, Delaware Superior Court Judge Jerome O. Herlihy, who oversaw the police investigation as chief prosecutor, remembered. He said there is no evidence supporting Biden’s claim.
“The rumor about alcohol being involved by either party, especially the truck driver (Dunn), is incorrect,” Herlihy said in 2008.
Police determined that Biden’s first wife drove into the path of Dunn’s tractor-trailer, possibly because her head was turned and she didn’t see the oncoming truck.
Dunn did everything he could to avoid hitting the car. He even overturned his rig while swerving to avoid a collision. He ran to the wrecked car and was the first to render assistance.
Police filed no charges against Dunn, who at that time lived in North East, Md. with his wife, Ruby, and their seven children.
Beginning in the new Millenium, Biden started to embellish the story, seemingly for political gain. During a speech in 2001, Biden told an audience at the University of Delaware that a drunken driver crashed into his family.
He told a similar story during a public appearance in 2007.
The vice-presidential candidate’s misrepresentation of Dunn found its way into major newspapers, including the New York Times.
It also has been repeated on radio and on television by major news journalists, including CBS anchorwoman Katie Couric.
A video of Biden making his unfounded assertion during a public appearance in 2007 was particularly disturbing.
Biden told the crowd, “A tractor-trailer, a guy who allegedly — and I never pursued it — drank his lunch instead of eating his lunch, broadsided my family and killed my wife instantly and killed my daughter instantly and hospitalized my two sons …
Mr. Dunn was tormented by the accident for years.
The tragedy for Biden losing his wife and daughter is very sad and one must be sympathetic, but embellishing it and accusing an innocent man of drunk driving is not.
This is awful. Did you know for years @JoeBiden told people his wife and 13-month-old daughter were killed by a drunk driver, when in fact the accident was tragically her fault. The truck driver was haunted by the accident until he died.https://t.co/f41yNvU8RY
— Rosie memos (@almostjingo) October 16, 2019
Found photo of car, other than that details are slim but by all accounts Neilia veered into the lane of tractor. pic.twitter.com/K5JH7YP6DR
— Rosie memos (@almostjingo) October 16, 2019
“Nothing came of it. They had people, witnesses,” Lafferty said. “He was a good truck driver, very caring. It shook him up. It was an awful thing for all of us.” 😫
— Rosie memos (@almostjingo) October 16, 2019
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