Kingfisher County, OK — October 23, 2025, Brandon Friday was killed in a truck accident at about 2 p.m. on State Highway 33 east of Kingfisher.

Authorities said a westbound utility truck was struck by a piece of wood that flew out the back of a passing one-ton truck near North 2960 Road. The wood went through the windshield and hit the driver, a contractor for a local utility company. The passenger was able to stop by truck by activating the air brakes.

Driver Brandon M. Friday, 36, of Yukon died from injuries suffered in the crash, according to authorities.

The other truck driver was not aware that anything had come off his vehicle, authorities said. He is not facing any charges related to the crash at this time.

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

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When people hear about a fatal crash caused by something as seemingly minor as a piece of wood flying off a passing truck, they might chalk it up to bad luck. But from a legal perspective, that framing completely misses the point. This wasn’t an act of fate. It was a breakdown of responsibility, and the key question is: Whose responsibility?

When cargo or equipment comes off a moving truck, it usually means someone didn’t do their job. Maybe the load wasn’t secured properly. Maybe the truck was hauling materials in an unsafe way. Maybe someone in the supply chain decided to cut corners. Until there’s a proper investigation, we just don’t know. What we do know is that a man lost his life because a piece of unsecured wood flew off a one-ton truck, smashed through a windshield and hit the driver.

Right now, officials say the driver of the one-ton truck wasn’t aware anything had come loose. That may be true, but it doesn’t mean he’s off the hook. In cases like this, whether the driver meant for something to fall off is beside the point. The law focuses on whether it should have happened in the first place. And to answer that, we need to know a lot more about how that truck was loaded, who loaded it and what kind of load-securement systems (if any) were in use.

Unanswered questions include:

• Was the wood being transported professionally, or was this a personal errand?
• Was the one-ton truck being used in a commercial capacity?
• Were straps, tie-downs or sideboards used, or missing?
• Who owns the vehicle, and is there a company policy around cargo securement?
• Was this vehicle subject to DOT regulations, and if so, were they followed?

These aren't abstract questions. They determine where the liability lies. In my experience, cargo-fall crashes often point to a chain of bad decisions. Maybe the driver didn’t inspect the load. Maybe someone at a yard or job site loaded it incorrectly. Maybe nobody thought to ask whether the truck was even equipped to carry that kind of cargo safely. I once handled a case where a steel plate was allowed to hang off a flatbed trailer with no markings or lights, an arrangement so obviously dangerous that it was astonishing nobody spoke up. But no one did, and it cost a man his life.

That’s why an independent investigation is so critical here. The victim’s family deserves to know how this happened, and that can only come from gathering hard evidence: dash cam footage, witness statements, physical inspection of the truck and its cargo systems and possibly even records from the company, if a company was involved.

Whether this was a commercial or private operation matters, but either way, someone failed to prevent something that should never happen on a public highway. And no matter how often I see cases like this, it’s still frustrating how often key facts go uninvestigated unless someone pushes for answers.

Key Takeaways

• When cargo falls from a vehicle and causes a fatal crash, the central legal question is who failed to secure it properly.
• The fact that a driver didn't notice cargo falling off does not absolve them. or others in the chain. from responsibility.
• Critical facts remain unknown here, including who loaded the wood, how it was secured and whether the truck was operating commercially.
• These crashes often involve a series of avoidable mistakes by multiple parties, not just a single error.
• A full investigation is essential to uncover what went wrong and who should be held accountable.