Douglas County, OR — December 9, 2025, David Lawson was killed in a truck accident at about 5:15 p.m. on State Route 38/Umpqua Highway near Scottsburg.

Authorities said a westbound Freightliner semi-truck and an eastbound Buick Enclave collided near mile marker 22, causing the smaller vehicle to spin into the path of a Buick LaCrosse that also was heading west. That collision caused the Buick SUV to overturn several times before coming to rest on its side.

Enclave driver David Michael Lawson, 48, of Elkton was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, according to authorities.

The truck driver suffered minor injuries, authorities said, while the LaCrosse driver was not hurt.

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

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When people hear about a crash like this, they naturally want to know how such a devastating chain of events unfolded. Was this just a case of bad luck, or did someone make a preventable mistake? At this point, we’re still missing critical pieces of information, but even from the limited details available, some serious questions already need asking.

Authorities say the crash began with a collision between a westbound Freightliner semi-truck and an eastbound Buick Enclave. That initial impact then pushed the Enclave into the path of another westbound vehicle, leading to a second crash and a fatal rollover. But that sequence raises the obvious question: Why did the semi and the Enclave collide in the first place? Did one of them cross the center line? If so, which one, and why?

It’s not clear whether the truck veered out of its lane, whether the SUV did or whether something else entirely was going on, like a mechanical failure, a sudden maneuver or some kind of obstruction. That’s not a small detail. It's the starting point for understanding who, if anyone, is at fault.

These are exactly the kinds of situations where an investigation must go far beyond the crash scene itself. For the truck, that means looking at the engine control module, the truck’s black box, to find out its speed, braking, steering and throttle inputs right before the crash. Was the driver distracted, perhaps using a phone? Cell phone records will tell us. Did the truck have in-cab cameras? Those can offer firsthand evidence of what the driver was doing. And just as important, what does the truck driver’s history look like? Were there previous incidents or violations?

Even if it turns out the trucker didn’t do anything wrong at the moment of impact, the company that put them behind the wheel may still have questions to answer. I’ve handled cases where trucking companies hired drivers with a string of terminations or accidents and did little more than a quick road test before sending them out on the highway. If something like that happened here, then it wouldn’t be enough to focus only on the driver. The company’s decisions could have played a role as well.

Right now, we don’t know enough to say who’s responsible, but we can say this much: someone needs to dig deep into the evidence to find out. Without that, there’s no way to know whether this was a tragic inevitability or a preventable failure.

Key Takeaways:

• It’s still unclear what caused the initial crash between the semi-truck and the SUV.
• Critical evidence — like black box data, cell phone records and in-cab video — must be reviewed to determine fault.
• The truck driver’s history and the trucking company’s hiring practices may also come into play.
• The second collision and rollover were triggered by the first crash, making the initial impact the key focus of any investigation.
• Accountability depends on a full, independent investigation, not assumptions.