Houston, TX — July 3, 2024, Jerrien Brown was fatally injured due to an 18-wheeler accident that happened around 5:00 a.m. on North Loop 610 West.

Authorities said in preliminary statements that the crash happened along westbound lanes of the freeway in the area of North Main Street.

According to officials, a 20-year-old man, identified by county officials as Jerrien Brown, was in an Acura that was disabled in the lanes of travel on westbound Loop 610. While there, a tractor-trailer did not avoid the vehicle, crashing into it. Jerrien Brown sustained injuries that were ultimately fatal. No other injuries were reported. Right now, additional details about the crash are unavailable.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

A key detail I have yet to see authorities clear up is whether or not a reasonably prudent driver could have seen and avoided the victim. A truck hitting a disabled vehicle early in the morning may sound unavoidable, and sometimes that's true. However, if evidence shows that a safe driver could have seen and avoided the victim, it would raise serious red flags about the actions of a driver who failed to do so.

Let me give an example. I had a case not long ago with initial details very similar to these. A commercial vehicle driver crashed into a disabled vehicle, killing that driver. They said it was just too dark to see the victim's car, and authorities basically took that at face value. Well, independent investigations dug up and revealed video evidence that told a completely different story.

There were two cameras: a dash cam filming the road, and a camera in the driver's cabin watching the driver. The road cam clearly showed the victim had their emergency lights on and was visible about three-quarters of a mile down the road. The truck driver made no attempt to slow or change lanes until it was far too late. Why? From the cabin video, the driver was too busy watching shows on his tablet to bother looking up at the road. Only after revealing such egregious behavior did the victim's loved ones see action taken for the loss of their loved one.

There's no information right now to say anything like that happened in this crash, just to be clear. Maybe a reasonably prudent driver would have had no way of avoiding this, which would make it ludicrous to try to hold a truck driver responsible for something they couldn't avoid. But if investigations don't consider the entire context of the crash, they might overlook something which could show the victim's death was entirely preventable. At the very least, any reasonable person should agree that's information worth looking into.