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Fatigue and meth use blamed in crash that killed six

CHATTANOOGA, TN (AP) – Federal investigators say a motor vehicle crash that killed six people on a Tennessee highway last year likely happened because a truck driver who failed to slow down in a construction zone was probably fatigued and had taken methamphetamine.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday approved the probable cause findings of the June 2015 crash.

The panel cited a failure in the employee screening process to determine that driver Benjamin Brewer of London, Kentucky, had been fired from a previous trucking job two years earlier because of illegal drug use. A hair test administered under an unrelated court order less than three months before the wreck had also turned out positive for meth.

Brewer is being held on $500,000 bond while awaiting trial in Chattanooga. His attorneys did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.