Hoover, AL — December 16, 2025, Ignatius Techie was killed and another person was injured in a truck accident at about 5:30 a.m. on Interstate 65.

Authorities said a southbound semi-truck left the road near U.S. Route 31/Montgomery Highway drove down an embankment into a wooded area.

A passenger, 55-year-old Maryland resident Ignatius Anguh Techie, died at the scene of the crash, according to authorities.

The driver was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

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

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When a truck leaves the highway and crashes down an embankment into the woods, as this one reportedly did in Hoover, people understandably want to know what went wrong. How does a professional driver lose control on a major interstate like I-65? And if someone lost their life as happened here was it preventable?

We don’t yet know if another vehicle was involved, if the driver swerved to avoid something in the road, or if this was a case of driver error. But anytime a commercial truck veers off a straight stretch of highway, that raises serious questions about attention, alertness and vehicle condition.

The very first place to look for answers is the truck’s electronic control module (ECM), often called the “black box.” It can tell investigators whether the truck was speeding, braking or suddenly changed direction before the crash. Equally important is whether the truck had in-cab cameras that show the driver’s behavior leading up to the crash. Was the driver nodding off? Using a cell phone? None of that is speculation once you get the footage or phone records.

Even if the driver made a mistake, that’s not the end of the inquiry. A good investigation also asks: Why was this driver behind the wheel in the first place? Was the company cutting corners on training or hiring? Did they screen his background thoroughly, or rush to fill a seat?

I’ve handled cases where the trucking company’s biggest failure wasn’t in how the truck was operated, but in who they trusted to operate it. One driver I dealt with had been fired from multiple jobs before being hired by the company that put him back on the road. They gave him a 20-minute road test and called it a day. It didn’t take long for that decision to blow up in everyone’s face.

Here, we know a passenger lost his life and the driver survived. That makes it all the more important to get a full accounting of what happened: through physical evidence, electronic data and a thorough review of the company’s safety practices. Only then will we start to understand whether this was a random incident, or a failure someone should answer for.

Key Takeaways:

• A truck veering off the highway raises serious questions about driver alertness, vehicle condition or other contributing factors.
• ECM data, dash cam footage and phone records are crucial to understanding what happened in the moments before the crash.
• The trucking company’s hiring and training practices should be scrutinized as part of the investigation.
• It’s too early to assign blame, but someone lost their life, and that warrants a full, independent inquiry.
• Accountability depends on gathering all the facts; not just at the crash scene, but behind the scenes where safety decisions are made.