Pickaway County, OH — December 10, 2025, David Shannon was killed in a truck accident at about 10:40 a.m. on U.S. Route 62 near Orient.

Authorities said a 2023 Dodge Ram was trying to pass another vehicle when it crashed head-on into a 2023 Kenworth semi-truck. The collision caused the semi to lose a tire and veer into oncoming traffic, sideswiping an eastbound 2012 Subaru.

Dodge driver David Shannon, 70, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, according to authorities.

The other two injuries were not seriously injured, authorities said.

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

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When a crash involves a large commercial truck veering into oncoming traffic, it raises immediate questions about how and why that happened, and whether it could have been avoided. From reports, it appears a pickup truck tried to pass another vehicle and hit a semi head-on. As a result, the semi lost control and sideswiped a third car in the opposite lane. That sequence raises several unanswered questions about both vehicles involved.

To start, it’s not yet clear how fast either vehicle was going or what conditions were like at the time of the crash. The Dodge pickup was reportedly attempting a pass, but there’s no word on whether the driver misjudged distance, visibility or the speed of oncoming traffic. Likewise, we don’t know if the semi had any chance to evade the oncoming vehicle or whether it had time to brake or swerve. Depending on those answers, different legal questions may arise about reaction time, speed and vehicle control.

A lot also hinges on the semi-truck’s behavior after the impact. The report says it lost a tire and veered into another lane, hitting an unrelated vehicle. But was that swerve purely the result of mechanical damage, or was the driver attempting an evasive maneuver that went wrong? That’s not clear from public reports.

These are the kinds of questions that can’t be answered from a police summary alone. They require hard evidence: things like black box data (from the truck's engine control module), dash cam footage and cell phone records to understand what each driver was doing at the time of the crash. If the truck had in-cab cameras, those may also show whether the driver was alert, distracted or reacting in real time.

And even though this crash appears to have started with the Dodge driver’s actions, that doesn’t mean no questions apply to the trucking side. Was the semi-truck in proper working condition? Was the driver properly trained to respond to sudden emergencies like a vehicle entering his lane? I've handled more than one case where a driver looked blameless at first glance, but further investigation showed the company cut corners on safety, ignored warning signs in the driver’s record or failed to provide meaningful road testing during the hiring process.

The only way to fairly assess what happened here is to treat this crash as a complex event with multiple layers, not a simple cause-and-effect. Getting to the truth means digging into the details, not making assumptions.

Key Takeaways:

• It's not clear whether the semi-truck swerved because of mechanical failure or driver action after the head-on crash.
• Important evidence — like black box data, dash cams and cell phone records — could clarify what happened in the moments before and after impact.
• Even when another driver causes the initial crash, trucking company practices may still be relevant to the final outcome.
• A full investigation is needed to understand each party’s role and responsibility in the chain of events.
• Quick conclusions based on partial facts can lead to the wrong people being held accountable.