The death of a 19-year-old student on a Texas highway is raising questions about the fleet of drivers Amazon uses to transport packages between its facilities. Freshman Iliana Velez’s life was cut short by an accident involving a contractor who was driving to pick up an Amazon shipment.
Velez, a freshman at the University of Texas, worked part-time at night sorting packages at an Amazon fulfillment center.
In the early morning hours of January 3, 2022, Velez was on a break when she was forced off the road by a box truck driven by Jordan Sannicola, a contractor on her way to pick up an Amazon shipment. Velez’s car rolled several times. She died on the spot.
CBS News
Her mother, Trula Velez, received the news from police that same evening.
‘The officer knocked on my door and he said she was in an accident and she didn’t survive,” she said. ‘I was in such shock.’
When Sannicola was arrested four weeks later, investigators discovered he had a history of traffic violations, a suspended driver’s license and outstanding misdemeanor warrants, including one charge of evading arrest with a vehicle. He told police he was using a mobile device when he collided with Iliana Velez’s car.
“Someone with multiple warrants should not have been hired,” Trula Velez said.
San Marcos Police Department
A lawsuit filed by Trula Velez alleges that Amazon previously denied Sannicola’s application to deliver packages for the company’s “flex” home delivery service after he failed a background check. Yet he was able to drive for a company contracted by Amazon. Despite his criminal history and driving record, Take Flight with B, a North Carolina motor carrier, hired Sannicola to transport Amazon cargo.
Missed warning signs?
The Velez family’s attorney, Alex Hilliard, claims that because of the background check, Amazon was “fully aware” of Sannicola’s poor driving record and criminal background when he began driving for Take Flight, which transported goods between Amazon facilities on part of the delivery. network known as the ‘middle mile’.
The lawsuit also alleges that the tracking technology provided by the Relay phone application that Amazon uses to monitor driver location and performance alerted the company to Sannicola’s unsafe driving behavior, but it failed to take action .
“Mr Sannicola had 70 different speeding tickets [while working for Take Flight] which Amazon was made aware of,” Hilliard said. “They didn’t do anything about that.”
A CBS News analysis of federal safety data found that Amazon contractors, mainly in the company’s “middle-mile” delivery network, had monthly violation rates — such as speeding and texting while driving — that were typically double from those of carriers who did not transport for Amazon. The analysis examined six years of monthly unsafe driving rates from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and found that the average rates of carriers shipping for Amazon were at least 89% higher each month.
“I was stunned,” says Jason Miller, a Michigan State University professor and supply chain management expert. “I’ve published many papers based on this data. You don’t normally see these kinds of effects when you have a set of carriers that are almost twice as unsafe as another set of carriers.”
CBS News used roadside inspection reports in federal data to identify Amazon contractors. The reports, prepared by law enforcement agencies, identify who a carrier said they were shipping for at the time of inspection. The analysis includes carriers that shipped for Amazon at least once in the two years preceding each month studied.
Miller said the large patchwork of contractors Amazon uses for medium-haul transportation presents challenges for ensuring a uniform safety culture.
“The more you actually have your freight moved by hundreds, if not thousands, of small, young companies, the more difficult it becomes to ensure that those companies operate safely, compared to a more – what we call – strategic purchasing model, where you might have a There are very few very large carriers you work with that handle a lot of freight,” Miller said.
At least 57 people have died in more than four dozen accidents involving federally regulated carriers shipping for Amazon over the past two years, according to FMCSA data, although the data does not indicate who was at fault in these incidents. The FMCSA produces an accident involvement score for carriers, but it is not public.
Amazon’s response
“Every fatality is heartbreaking,” said Tim Goodman, Global Legal Director for Traffic Safety at Amazon. “Our condolences to all the families affected by this and our thoughts go out to them.”
While Amazon requires background checks for contracted drivers who deliver directly to customers’ homes, Goodman said the company is looking to the FMCSA to oversee contractors who move freight between facilities in larger vehicles.
An FMCSA spokeswoman confirmed that contractors who ship commercial motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight exceeding 10,000 pounds are required to conduct background checks on drivers’ safety performance as a condition of employment.
Amazon said that if the company learns that a contracted carrier has violated FMCSA guidelines, the carrier could face consequences, including permanent suspension.
“We have taken disciplinary action against approximately 19,000 motor carriers for failure to comply with FMCSA safety requirements,” Goodman said.
One of those airlines is Take Flight with B, the contractor that hired Jordan Sannicola. Amazon confirmed that it has permanently suspended Take Flight with B from its contracted fleet. The motor carrier has now gone bankrupt.
Goodman defended Amazon’s continued reliance on third-party transportation companies to move its freight and deliver packages.
“In the United States, motor carrier transportation is provided by independent companies, small companies,” Goodman said. “It’s been that way since the Carter administration.”
“We are unique among Amazon in terms of our size,” Goodman said. “But it is a business model that has worked and has worked well, and we are committed to seeing it act as a catalyst to improve road safety for all of us.”
CBS News
Amazon disputes CBS News’ data findings. In a statement sent after the interview, a spokesperson said: “We have worked closely with CBS throughout this story and are disappointed that they continue to use data based on flawed methodology. We take safety incredibly seriously and the truth is that overall accident rates for third party carriers we work with have improved. Our standards are stricter than FMCSA requirements, and we will continue to work to ensure our partners are the safest carriers on the road.”
The company criticized, among other things, how CBS News identified Amazon contractors — it said inspection reports sometimes list the wrong shipper — and how CBS News measures a carrier’s safety.
Amazon measures safety using the FMCSA’s “unsafe driving score,” a number that uses different standards depending on the size of the carrier. This score is not made public by the government, but the underlying data is. Instead of ranking carriers by size, CBS News looked directly at the underlying rates of unsafe traffic violations like texting and speeding.
CBS News consulted several leading supply chain researchers, all of whom use FMCSA measures in peer-reviewed studies. Alex Scott, a University of Tennessee professor and supply chain management expert, said he doesn’t use the FMCSA’s scores in part because they make smaller carriers appear safer than they are.
“I don’t think that makes sense,” Scott said. “If they are less safe, then they are less safe.”
What the legal system says
On October 11, a judge sentenced Jordan Sannicola to 40 years in prison on charges of “failure to stop and render aid – an accident resulting in death” in the crash that killed Iliana Velez.
San Marcos Police Department
“One mistake cost someone’s life, and that was my daughter’s, and her life was just beginning,” Trula Valez said.
The court date for her lawsuit against Amazon is early 2025.
