Haltom City, TX — July 17, 2025, one person was killed and another was injured in a truck accident at about 6:30 p.m. on Loop 820.

Authorities said an eastbound Dodge Charger crashed into the back of a trailer being hauled by a disabled work truck. The Dodge reportedly had been changing lanes when the driver allegedly failed to notice the stopped truck in traffic.

The Dodge driver, identified only as a man in his 50s, died at the scene of the crash, according to authorities.

The truck driver suffered minor injuries in the crash, authorities said. Two other people who were outside the truck were not hurt.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Tarrant County crash at this time. The accident is still under investigation.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When people hear that a car slammed into the back of a stopped truck, they may assume the crash was the car driver’s fault, end of story. But that conclusion skips over some key facts that haven’t yet been answered, and those facts matter if we want to understand who, if anyone, failed to prevent this fatal wreck.

Take, for instance, the most basic unanswered question: Why was the work truck stopped in traffic in the first place? The report says it was “disabled,” but that term could mean anything from a mechanical breakdown to a collision moments earlier. Was the truck moving and broke down suddenly, or had it been sitting in that spot for some time? Depending on the answer, different questions arise. For example, if it was stopped for several minutes in an active lane, was it properly marked with hazard lights or emergency triangles to alert oncoming drivers?

Then there’s the location of the truck: was it in a travel lane or on the shoulder? If it was fully in the lane, that’s a huge detail. Commercial trucks that are disabled in the flow of traffic present a major hazard, especially during high-speed evening traffic like what you'd expect at 6:30 p.m. on Loop 820. If that’s where the truck was, it leads to further questions: Did the driver call for help? Did they take reasonable steps to move the vehicle out of the lane or warn others? The law generally expects truck drivers to protect other motorists when their vehicle becomes a hazard, and the failure to do so can be grounds for liability.

I’ve handled cases where trucks were stopped on highways without warning, sometimes due to poor maintenance or even driver error, and the results were just as deadly. In those cases, black box data, dash cam footage and cell phone records played a critical role in showing whether the truck suddenly lost power, whether warning signals were activated and whether the driver took proper safety steps after the truck stopped.

Of course, the report also says the car changed lanes just before the crash, which raises its own questions. Did the driver have a clear view of the truck? Was it dark at the time? Was the trailer lit or reflective? Could the trailer have blended into the surroundings? These are the types of details that investigators should be examining closely, because it’s one thing to say a driver “failed to notice” a stopped truck, and another to show they actually had a reasonable chance to do so.

Ultimately, assigning blame without a full investigation does a disservice to everyone involved. It’s only through a careful look at the vehicle data, witness statements, scene evidence and company records that we can know whether the truck’s presence in the roadway was preventable, or whether others share in the responsibility for this man’s death.

Key Takeaways:

• It’s not yet clear why the work truck was stopped in traffic or how long it had been there.
• If the truck was in a live lane without proper warnings, that could carry serious legal implications.
• Investigators should examine black box data, dash cams and driver actions immediately after the truck became disabled.
• The visibility of the trailer, and whether the car driver had a fair chance to avoid it, is a crucial unresolved issue.
• Liability in crashes like this often turns on details that only come to light through a thorough, independent investigation.