Laredo, TX — May 21, 2025, A child was injured following a car accident that occurred sometime Wednesday on U.S. Highway 83.

According to official reports, an SUV was traveling on U.S Highway 83 northbound near Market Street when it lost control and struck a wall and rolled over, and at this time it appears that this was a single vehicle accident.

When emergency crews arrived on scene, they found that a child under ten was not properly restrained and had been ejected from the vehicle and they were transported to the hospital with unknown injuries. Authorities have not indicated that anyone else in the vehicle was injured and there has been no statement regarding the status of the child.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

After a crash like this, I think most people have plenty of questions. However, some questions tend to be overlooked by crash investigators. When a child is ejected from a rolling vehicle, it’s easy to focus only on restraint use or driver behavior. But in my experience, single-vehicle rollovers are rarely caused by a single factor. To truly understand what happened—and help prevent it from happening again—we have to dig deeper and ask the right questions.

First, did the authorities thoroughly investigate the crash?
Any time a vehicle loses control and strikes a fixed object, the full roadway environment needs to be evaluated. Was there something in the road? Did the wall limit the driver’s ability to recover control? What were the weather and lighting conditions? These kinds of details can help show whether the crash was due to driver input alone or if the roadway itself contributed. Skipping this step leaves a lot of unknowns, especially when the crash involved a rollover, which typically indicates a major shift in the vehicle’s balance or trajectory.

Next, has anyone looked into the possibility that a vehicle defect caused the crash?
Rollovers, especially involving SUVs, can sometimes be linked to design issues or mechanical failures. Did the vehicle have a known problem with stability control? Were the tires properly inflated and in good condition? Could a steering or suspension component have failed? And just as important—was the seatbelt system functioning correctly? If the child was not properly restrained, that raises questions about the design and placement of the seatbelt or child safety seat. Was it used correctly, or could it have malfunctioned or become detached during the crash? These are questions that only a detailed inspection of the vehicle can answer.

Finally, has all the electronic data relating to the crash been collected?
An SUV like this likely had an electronic control module that can store a range of critical data: speed at the time of the crash, steering angle, braking input, and seatbelt usage status. This data is especially valuable when restraint use is in question. It can help determine whether the seatbelt was buckled at the time of the crash—or if it was buckled but failed to hold. It can also show if the vehicle's speed or movement patterns suggest a mechanical failure or sudden driver action. Without this information, investigators are left to guess about key events in the seconds leading up to the crash.

When a child is ejected from a vehicle, that fact alone should be a signal to take nothing for granted. Assumptions about fault or cause can leave crucial facts unexamined. A deeper investigation, grounded in evidence and data, gives everyone a better shot at understanding what went wrong—and how to keep it from happening again.

Key Takeaways:

• Crash scene analysis should include road design, surface conditions, and environmental factors.
• Vehicle defects—mechanical or design-related—should be ruled out through full inspection.
• Electronic control module data is critical for understanding seatbelt use and vehicle behavior.