Sherman, TX — December 23, 2024, one person was injured following an 18-wheeler accident at around 5:45 a.m. along State Highway 289.

Preliminary statements from the Texas Department of Public Safety say that the crash happened at the intersection of TX-289 and U.S. Highway 82.

Details right now suggest there was a 21-year-old in a Ford pickup traveling northbound along Highway 289. At one of the exits for U.S. 82, authorities say that a tractor-trailer was making a left turn across northbound lanes. That's when the pickup crashed into the side of the semi-trailer crossing the highway.

Due to the collision, the pickup driver was taken from the scene with reportedly serious injuries. There were no other reported injuries. Right now, additional details about the accident remain unconfirmed.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

From footage in the news and images of the intersection available online, it would seem the truck making the turn across the highway was coming from a stop sign. To be clear, I'm not going to draw conclusions without having all the facts. It's natural, though, that many will see that and assume the truck driver did something wrong. Let's consider a scenario where that's true. Would that mean that getting a fair resolution for the victims and families is open-and-shut? Not likely. I've handled hundred of commercial vehicle accident cases, and the reality is they almost always involve unique hurdles that require in-depth, strategic approaches that rarely come from the efforts of authorities alone.

For example, I had a case not long ago involving very similar details. The family involved in the crash was caught off-guard when the trucking company denied responsibility and even blamed the victim for the crash. Despite what seemed like a straight-forward police investigation, the trucking company claimed the victim was speeding, that they weren't using a seatbelt, and that they failed to avoid an avoidable crash. Since the authorities conducted a shallow investigation, there wasn't enough evidence to confidently counter those claims. That's where our more thorough independent accident reconstructionists came through to pick up the slack.

For one, a reconstruction of the crash scene, the conditions at the time of the accident, and data pulled from the victim's vehicle (which authorities completely overlooked) all concluded that the victim was going at appropriate speeds. Secondly, we interviewed numerous emergency responders who worked the accident scene. They all testified that they actually had to cut through the victim's seatbelt to get them out of the car. And to top everything off, we had the truck examined, and the inspectors found that the trailer's reflective tape was so caked with dirt that it was all but invisible at the time of the crash. The victim had no way of knowing there was something blocking the road until it was too late to stop.

It was only after picking apart the trucking company's defense with clear evidence that the family got a just resolution to their situation. Had they just stuck with the shallow police reports they initially received, there likely would have been enough room for those seemingly flimsy trucking company defenses to find footing and shift the blame. That's why many who fail to anticipate such challenges—including inexperienced attorneys—can quickly find themselves outmatched trying to hold a negligent trucking company accountable for their driver's actions.

Again, I'm not speculating about what happened here nor what may come next for those involved. But one of the biggest challenges for victims and families is simply having as much evidence as possible telling their side of the story. Whatever happened here, getting a fair conclusion typically requires a lot more than preliminary investigations from authorities, and I don't see yet why this accident would be an exception.