NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain — Military personnel in Rota held a “safety stand down” Wednesday to discuss safety and alcohol abuse less than a week after a sailor from the base was killed in a car accident.
The naval station’s safety office, security and the staff judge advocate led presentations in the base theater.
Navy Capt. John Orem, commander of U.S. forces in Rota, ordered servicemembers to stand down after this past weekend’s fatal accident, base spokeswoman Lt. Allie Freeman said.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Timothy H. Sporleder, who was assigned to the base’s Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Unit, died around midnight Friday when he rolled the car he was driving on A-491 between Rota and Chipiona. Petty Officer 3rd Class Matthew S. Hays, a passenger in the car, remains hospitalized with a spinal fracture at a hospital in Cadiz.
Spanish authorities are investigating the incident.
The base will hold a memorial service for Sporleder on Friday beginning at 9 a.m. in the chapel.
According to Navy officials, the accident in Rota is one of several serious accidents involving U.S. Navy sailors in Europe this month. On June 12, three sailors from Naples, Italy, were killed and two others were seriously burned in an automobile crash on a main highway near the city.
