Laplace, LA — March 25, 2023, Seamus Cassidy and Oger Mejia-Puentes were killed following a truck accident at 9:30 p.m. in Laplace.

Louisiana State Police officials said that the incident happened along I-10 just west of Highway 3188. It appears that a Ford F-550 tow truck was going along westbound lanes of I-10 when it somehow lost control and crashed. This left the truck disabled partially in the left lane of travel. There, a BMW then crashed into the tow truck. After this, the tow truck was then hit by a Ford F-150

The driver of the BMW and the driver of the F-150 were killed. Reports identified them as 18-year-old Seamus Cassidy and 32-year-old Oger Mejia-Puentes, respectively. No other injuries were reported. Right now, additional details about the accident are unavailable.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

One thing I noticed in local reports was authorities warning about the dangers of things like distraction, impairment, fatigued driving, and other common mistakes behind the wheel. Obviously, these are sound pieces of advice. But it can sometimes lead people to assume that one driver or another was being irresponsible. That's possible, sure, but what if this all was due to something unusual? Was there a mechanical issue? A medical emergency? Road hazards or issues with visibility? A tire blowout? Likely or not, a proper investigation is going to consider all of these possibilities so that nothing important slips through the cracks.

While I certainly don't know anything more about this crash than what's currently in the news, the fact that two drivers crashed into the same truck makes me think they likely had no opportunity to avoid those collisions. It's important, then, to find out exactly what created that hazard in the first place. Not just what happened, but why. Hopefully the generic advice authorities are putting out there is just them filling for time rather than a sign they aren't giving this terrible event the attention it deserves.

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