Chiquita Rogers Killed in Truck Accident near Greenwell Springs, LA

Baton Rouge Parish, LA — April 14, 2025, Chiquita Rogers was killed in a truck accident at about noon on State Highway 37/Greenwell Springs Road.

Authorities said a 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt was headed north when it stopped to make a left turn near Sandy Creek Community Road. The car was hit from behind by a 2021 Freightliner semi-truck, knocking it into the path of a 2020 Mack semi-truck that was headed south.

Chevrolet driver Chiquita Rogers, 42, of Port Allen died after being transported to a local hospital, according to authorities. Both truck drivers were uninjured in the crash near Greenwell Springs.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Baton Rouge Parish crash. The accident is still under investigation.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When a car is rear-ended by a semi-truck and then pushed into the path of another oncoming truck, the result is almost always devastating, and legally, it usually starts with a failure to maintain proper following distance. Based on the details provided, the driver of the Freightliner semi-truck appears to have struck the back of a Chevrolet Cobalt that was lawfully stopped to make a left turn. That initial impact set off a chain of events that led to the driver’s death. From a legal perspective, that’s not an accident: it’s a preventable collision caused by a breakdown in basic truck safety practices.

Commercial drivers are trained to expect sudden stops on two-lane roads like State Highway 37. Left-turning vehicles are a common part of rural and semi-rural traffic, and it’s the responsibility of drivers, especially those operating 80,000-pound vehicles, to allow enough space to stop safely. When they don’t, it’s usually because of one or more failures: following too closely, not paying attention or approaching too fast for conditions.

The Freightliner’s engine control module will be essential to understanding what happened. It can show how fast the truck was going, whether brakes were applied before the crash and how much time the driver had to react. If there was little or no braking, that could suggest distraction or delayed recognition of the hazard ahead. Investigators should also look at the driver’s hours-of-service records and cell phone data to determine whether fatigue or distraction played a role.

It’s also important to consider the design of the roadway. Were there clear turn lanes, or was the Cobalt stopped in the same lane used by through traffic? While that doesn’t excuse a rear-end collision, it may influence how much time the truck driver had to respond. Still, professional drivers are expected to account for those conditions and operate with extra caution in areas where turning traffic is common.

From a legal standpoint, rear-ending a stopped vehicle that is signaling a turn is almost always considered negligence. But in cases like this, where the consequences are fatal and a second collision is involved, the implications go beyond a citation. The crash didn’t happen because the car stopped: it happened because a professional driver failed to stop in time, and as a result, a driver who seemed to be doing everything right paid the ultimate price.

This crash will likely raise questions not just about one driver’s actions, but about how that driver was trained, supervised and monitored. Because when a person is killed by a truck that never should have hit them in the first place, the responsibility doesn’t stop at the cab. It often extends to the company that put that truck — and that driver — on the road without the safeguards needed to prevent exactly this kind of crash.