Update (January 5, 2025): Authorities have identified the person killed in this accident as 35-year-old Christopher Sehak, but have not offered any additional details about the crash.

Surprise, AZ — January 2, 2026, one person was killed and several others were injured in a truck accident at about 3 a.m. at Grand Avenue/U.S. Highway 60 and Dysart Road.

Authorities said multiple vehicles, including a semi-truck, were involved in a crash at the intersection.

One driver died at the scene of the crash, while several other people were hospitalized with unspecified injuries, according to authorities. A dog also died in the crash.

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

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When a crash involves a semi-truck at 3 a.m. and leaves one person dead and several others injured, as happened at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Dysart Road, a lot of people are left wondering: How does something like this happen? Who’s responsible? And maybe most important: will the full story ever come out?

Right now, authorities have confirmed that multiple vehicles were involved and one driver lost their life, but there’s a lot they haven’t said. We don’t yet know what caused the crash or what role the semi-truck played in it. Was the truck moving through the intersection? Was it stopped? Did it rear-end someone, get struck by another vehicle or do something unpredictable that caused a chain reaction?

Those aren’t just academic questions. They matter because they determine who should be held accountable.

To get real answers, someone needs to secure hard evidence. That includes engine control module data (the truck’s “black box”) to show how fast the truck was going, whether it braked and whether the driver made any sudden maneuvers. In-cab cameras, if installed, could show whether the driver was alert or distracted, possibly even dozing off at that hour. Phone records can help determine whether the driver was texting or on a call at the time.

Depending on what those pieces of evidence reveal, the responsibility may lie with the truck driver, the company that employs them or other drivers involved. But jumping to conclusions without that evidence does a disservice to everyone, especially the victims.

Another key consideration is whether the trucking company properly screened and trained the driver. In my experience, I’ve seen cases where a driver was barely evaluated before being handed the keys to an 80,000-pound vehicle. One case I handled involved a driver who had been fired from multiple previous jobs and still got hired after a 20-minute road test. That sort of carelessness from the employer can turn a preventable crash into a fatal one.

There’s also the question of what condition the truck itself was in. Was there a mechanical failure? Did the brakes work? Those details often get overlooked unless someone independent investigates them.

For now, many crucial questions about this crash remain unanswered, but they’re the same kinds of questions that have led to the truth in many other cases I’ve worked on. Only a thorough, independent investigation can uncover who or what caused this multi-vehicle collision, and whether it was preventable.

Key Takeaways:

• It’s unclear what role the semi-truck played in the crash; multiple scenarios are possible depending on whether it was moving or stopped.
• Black box data, in-cab cameras and phone records are critical to understanding what the truck driver was doing at the time.
• The trucking company’s hiring and training practices may become relevant depending on what the investigation uncovers.
• Mechanical failure or poor maintenance could also be factors, but that evidence must be secured early.
• A thorough, evidence-based investigation, not assumptions, is the only way to determine who should be held accountable.