Lake County, OH — January 15, 2026, Daniel Clack was injured in a car accident at about 7:50 p.m. on Interstate 90 near Madison.

Authorities said a westbound car lost control while passing the site of an earlier car accident. It hit an Ohio Highway Patrol cruiser parked on the side of the road and two tow truck operators.

One of the tow truck operators, 39-year-old Daniel Clack, was seriously injured in the Madison Township crash, according to authorities. The other one, 37-year-old Joshua Holstein, suffered minor injuries.

Two troopers inside the cruiser were not injured, authorities said.

The driver of the car did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash, according to authorities.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Lake County crash at this time. The accident is still under investigation.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

After any serious highway crash, especially one involving emergency responders or recovery personnel, it’s natural to wonder how such incidents unfold, and whether anything could have been done differently to prevent them. Accidents in areas where previous crashes occurred add even more layers of complexity, making it critical to ask the right questions.

Did the authorities thoroughly investigate the crash? The fact that this incident happened near an earlier crash scene means investigators likely had a lot happening at once. That raises the question of whether the second collision received the same level of scrutiny as it would have under calmer circumstances. When a vehicle loses control and strikes parked emergency vehicles and personnel, a detailed reconstruction is essential. That should include precise mapping of the scene, evaluation of how fast the car was traveling and a full analysis of the driver’s behavior leading up to the loss of control. It’s also worth remembering that investigative quality can vary depending on which personnel are on scene and how much time they have to work.

Has anyone looked into the possibility that a vehicle defect caused the crash? When a driver isn’t impaired and still loses control, that should raise questions about whether something went wrong inside the car itself. A mechanical failure — like faulty brakes, steering issues or a stuck accelerator — can turn an ordinary moment on the road into a dangerous situation. These issues often leave no visible trace at the scene, which is why a post-crash mechanical inspection is so important. If no one took the time to look closely under the hood or test the vehicle systems, a critical cause might have gone unnoticed.

Has all the electronic data relating to the crash been collected? In today’s cars, onboard systems record a surprising amount of information about how the vehicle was behaving before a crash. Speed, braking, steering inputs and even whether the driver was using a phone can often be verified through data downloads. With two separate incidents in the same area, digital evidence becomes even more important to separate coincidence from causation. If investigators haven’t pulled data from the car, nearby traffic cameras or GPS logs, they may be missing pieces of the puzzle.

When multiple crashes stack up in the same spot, it's not just bad luck. There are often overlooked factors that only come to light when someone digs deeper. That’s why it’s so important to press for thorough investigations; not just to explain what happened, but to learn how to keep it from happening again.

Key Takeaways:

• Investigators need to fully reconstruct scenes, especially when crashes happen near ongoing incidents.
• A mechanical failure may be to blame even when impairment isn’t a factor.
• Electronic data from vehicles and nearby sources can reveal hidden causes.