Sherman Oaks, CA — June 18, 2025, a 12-year-old boy was killed due to a box truck accident at approximately 10:15 a.m. along Woodman Avenue.

According to authorities, three people—one of which was a 12-year-old boy—were traveling in a Lexus on Woodman Avenue in the vicinity of the Moorpark Avenue intersection when the accident took place.

Officials indicate that, for as yet unknown reasons, the Lexus collided with a delivery box truck that had apparently been parked on the street. The 12-year-old reportedly suffered fatal injuries due to the wreck and was declared deceased at the scene. The other two occupants of the Lexus sustained injuries of unknown severity and were transported to a local medical facility by EMS in order to receive necessary treatment. Additional details pertaining to this incident are not available at this point in time. The investigation is currently ongoing.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When a parked box truck ends up in a fatal collision with a moving vehicle, especially one carrying children, it raises immediate questions about how and where that truck was positioned. A parked truck isn’t automatically at fault—but in urban settings like Sherman Oaks, there are strict limits on where and how commercial vehicles can legally stop. If the truck wasn’t properly parked, or if it created a visual or physical hazard, that could change everything about how this crash is understood.

Was the Truck Parked Legally and Safely?

Commercial delivery drivers often park wherever they can find space—sometimes double-parked, sometimes partially in the travel lane, and sometimes too close to intersections or driveways. But California law doesn’t make exceptions for convenience. Trucks have to follow the same rules as everyone else when it comes to obstructing traffic or creating unsafe conditions.

Key questions investigators will need to answer include:

• Was the truck parked in a legal and designated area?
• Was it protruding into the travel lane or obstructing a driver’s line of sight?
• Were hazard lights, cones, or reflective warnings used if the truck was stopped in an unusual location?

These are not minor technicalities. I’ve handled cases where a delivery truck was legally parked but still created a blind spot that made it impossible for another driver to see cross traffic or pedestrians. The law recognizes that risk—and when it leads to a fatal crash, accountability may follow.

What Role Did the Lexus Driver’s Actions Play?

It’s also important to evaluate how the Lexus ended up striking a stationary vehicle. Was the driver distracted? Did they swerve to avoid something else? Was there a mechanical issue? Depending on how close the truck was to the lane of travel, even a slight drift could result in a serious collision. But unless the Lexus veered wildly off-course for unrelated reasons, the stationary truck’s positioning is still central to the investigation.

This isn’t about blaming one party or the other—it’s about figuring out whether a preventable hazard contributed to the loss of a young life. That analysis starts with evidence from the scene: tire marks, impact angles, witness statements, and surveillance footage. Without that, the public is left to fill in the blanks—and that’s no way to achieve justice.

Key Takeaways:

• A central issue is whether the box truck was legally and safely parked, or if it created an obstruction in the roadway.
• Parking practices for commercial vehicles in residential or mixed-use areas are governed by clear rules, which may have been violated.
• The Lexus driver’s behavior also needs investigation, but stationary vehicle placement often plays a key role in low-speed urban crashes.
• Visual evidence from the scene—camera footage, markings, and measurements—will determine whether this was an avoidable hazard.
• Accountability depends on evaluating not just what happened, but how decisions before the crash exposed others to danger.