Luzerne County, PA — March 21, 2025, Israel Cruz was killed in a truck accident at about 2:35 p.m. on eastbound Interstate 80 in Butler Township.

Authorities said a man tending to a disabled commercial vehicle on the right shoulder of the highway was hit by a Penske semi-truck at mile marker 257.1. The other driver fled after seeing that his truck had hit someone.

The man who was hit, Israel Cruz, 52, died after being transported to a local hospital, according to authorities.

Investigators used dashcam video from another vehicle to identify the truck and driver involved in the crash, authorities said. The man was arrested and charged with fleeing the scene of an injury accident.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Luzerne County crash.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

Crashes like this are among the most difficult to read about, not just because someone lost their life, but because of how preventable the whole situation appears to have been. When a commercial driver hits a person on the shoulder of the highway and then drives off, it’s not just a crash: it’s a complete failure of responsibility.

According to reports, a man tending to a disabled commercial vehicle was struck by a passing Penske semi-truck. That raises two important legal issues: Was the driver operating with the caution required when passing a vehicle on the shoulder? And what does it say when that driver fled the scene afterward?

In every state, commercial drivers are expected to move over or slow down when approaching disabled vehicles or people on the shoulder. That’s not a suggestion: it’s the law. And when it comes to professional drivers, the standard is even higher. These drivers are trained, licensed, and trusted to operate massive vehicles on public roads. When one of them fails to maintain control or awareness — and worse, drives away after hitting someone — that’s a failure on multiple levels.

The fact that dashcam footage from another vehicle helped identify the truck underscores something I’ve seen again and again in these cases: it’s often up to private individuals or independent investigators to piece together what really happened. And that raises the question: what if that dashcam footage didn’t exist? Would this driver have faced any accountability at all?

It’s also worth asking whether the company that owned or operated the truck had any role in creating the circumstances of the crash. Did they track the truck’s location? Did they know when it left the scene? Was the driver properly screened, trained or supervised? Those are the questions that don’t always get asked, but they’re essential for understanding how a licensed commercial driver could hit someone and keep going.

In the end, there’s no justification for fleeing the scene, especially not for someone trusted with the responsibilities of a commercial driver. When a crash like this happens, the goal of the investigation shouldn’t just be to identify the driver. It should be to understand every decision, every failure, and every oversight that allowed it to happen in the first place. Because accountability doesn’t stop with the person behind the wheel: it starts there.