Lansing, IL — July 28, 2025, one person was killed and another was injured in a truck accident at about 4:30 p.m. on eastbound Interstate 80/Frank Borman Expressway.

Authorities said a car was stalled in a traffic lane near Torrance Lane when it was hit by another car. The impact knocked the other car into the path of semi-truck.

The driver of the car that was hit by the truck died at the scene of the crash, according to authorities. The driver's name has not been made public yet.

The driver of the other car was hospitalized with unspecified injuries, authorities said.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Cook County crash at this time.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When people hear about a crash like this, with one car stalled and another pushed into the path of a semi, they naturally want to know: How did things get so out of control so quickly? Could this chain reaction have been stopped? And why was a car sitting in a live traffic lane in the first place?

The initial reports lay out a basic sequence — stalled car, secondary collision, semi impact — but they don’t address several key questions that determine who, if anyone, failed to do their job. For example, we don’t know how long the first car was disabled in the lane. Was it sitting there for just seconds, or had it been stranded long enough that other drivers had time to react and avoid it? Depending on that answer, the legal picture changes dramatically.

Another important unknown is the role of the semi-truck. The report says the truck hit a car that had been pushed into its path, but doesn’t say whether the truck had time or space to avoid the collision. Was the truck following too closely to stop in time? Was the driver distracted? Or was the car suddenly flung in front of the semi, giving the driver no realistic chance to avoid impact? Each of those scenarios tells a different story, and only a full investigation will reveal which one is true.

In crashes like this, I’ve seen firsthand how electronic control module (ECM) data can fill in the blanks. That "black box" can tell us how fast the truck was going, whether the driver braked and how long they had to respond. Dash cam footage, if available, is another vital piece of the puzzle. And in some cases, cellphone records or in-cab cameras reveal whether a driver was focused on the road, or something else.

These are the kinds of questions that go unasked in police reports but often make all the difference in court. Getting answers requires more than surface-level reporting: it takes a deliberate legal investigation that holds everyone to account, based on hard evidence.

Key Takeaways:

• It’s unclear how long the stalled car was in the lane before the initial crash occurred. Timing is key to assessing fault.
• We don’t yet know if the truck driver had a reasonable chance to avoid hitting the car pushed into its path.
• Evidence like dash cam footage, ECM data and cellphone records will be critical in understanding the truck driver’s actions.
• Multi-vehicle crashes often involve complex chains of responsibility that go beyond just the person behind the wheel.