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A fatal unimog crash could cost the Defence Force up to $250,000 in fines plus compensation.
A unimog all-terrain vehicle crashed into a truck near Hunterville in February, killing Palmerston North truck driver Shane Ratahi and causing life threatening injuries to army gunner Michael Chapman.
After five months investigation, police have charged the Defence Force for failing to ensure Mr Chapman was "suitably restrained while travelling in a motor vehicle" under health and safety laws, the Dominion Post reported today.
Auckland University employment law expert Bill Hodge said a conviction could have "significant repercussions".
"I'd hate to think that a captain in Afghanistan or a colonel in East Timor says, 'Wait a minute - before you go out and do that I have to think about the health and safety in employment issues'."
Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mike Shatford said the Defence Force would plead guilty in Marton District Court on Tuesday.
The seat where Mr Chapman was sitting was not fitted with a seat belt.
The Unimog driver, gunner John Francis Eric Penney, who allegedly fell asleep at the wheel, has also been charged with careless driving causing death and two counts of careless driving causing injury.
- NZPA
