NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- After a serious Nashville fire truck crash and a high-dollar settlement, the public has learned that advice ignored may have prevented the incident that occurred two years ago.
On May 10, 2006, Mark Young and three other firefighters never made it to the house fire they were going to put out because their rescue truck slid sideways and flipped.
"Oh, it felt like we were on a sheet of ice," said Young.
Young broke his neck, which is currently held together by six screws and two rods.
He's settled out of court with Metro for $251,000 and talked to the media for the first time about what caused the accident, wet roads and worn out tires.
Evidence photos reveal that there was not enough tread on the rear tires of the crashed truck to cover the head of a penny.
According to court depositions, firefighters had complained two months earlier that the tires were "pretty slick."
"The engineer had requested the tires to be replaced," said Young.
But a fleet maintenance inspector from general services, "said they would be all right," and he didn't replace them.
"The superintendent at fleet cleared the vehicle to go back on the road with the tires unchanged," said Young's attorney, Rocky McElhaney.
He said the men in the crashed truck were lucky there was no oncoming traffic that day.
"Had their been another car coming, those persons could have been killed," said McElhaney.
Young has healed enough to go back to work on a fire truck. Although with his titanium neck, he's only allowed to drive the truck, not fight fires, the job he truly loves.
Metro's legal department sent a written statement saying they settled out of court because it was in the government's financial best interest, and that it's a fair result for Young, who was seriously injured in the line of duty.
No one from the Nashville fire department or fleet management was available to comment for this story to answer questions associated with the wreck, including if all fire trucks have had their tires recently checked.
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