Pinellas County, FL — December 6, 2024, a Seminole man was killed due to a motorcycle versus truck accident that happened at 2:45 p.m. on 49th Street North.

Preliminary details about the accident say that it happened at the intersection of 49th Street North and 58th Avenue North.

Investigators said that a 21-year-old Seminole man was on a motorcycle traveling southbound along 49th Street. While doing so, a northbound semi-truck reportedly attempted a left turn. As a result, the motorcycle crashed into the tractor-trailer.

Due to the collision, the motorcyclist was killed. There were no other reported injuries. Authorities did not say if there would be charges or citations.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

The images of this intersection I've seen show flashing warning lights at the intersection, which generally means a vehicle making a left turn has to yield to oncoming vehicles. Considering this happened during daylight hours, why is it that this truck decided to make a left turn in front of the motorcyclist? Did they think there was enough time to cross? Were they just being impatient? Were they distracted?

These are the sorts of questions I'd expect to see authorities answer, but there hasn't been a lot of information about this crash released publicly. This raises serious red flags, since I've seen many motorcycle accidents mishandled by authorities due to unfair negative bias against motorcyclists.

Let me give an example. I handled a case not long ago involving a motorcyclist hitting a truck, resulting in the rider's death. The family wanted us to take a look because authorities were blaming the motorcyclist, saying the rider was being reckless and speeding. That sounded incredibly odd to the family, as they knew the victim to be a safe driver. Once we started digging, the evidence showed that the family's instincts were spot on.

It turned out the officer based their findings almost entirely on a witness's statement. When we went to interview the witness, though, they were just as surprised as the victim's loved ones. The witness never told the officer the motorcyclist was being reckless. All they said was the motorcyclist passed them on the left. After that, a truck turned in front of the motorcyclist, resulting in the wreck. The physical evidence from our own accident reconstruction confirmed this.

So what went wrong? Well, it turned out the investigating officer was an inexperienced rookie left to handle a complex fatal truck wreck on his own. As a result, he misinterpreted the witness's statement due to his own bias and failed to look at the actual evidence. Had he been more careful and thorough like our independent investigations were, he would have found that the truck actually cut off the motorcyclist, who was driving safely and minding their own business.

To be absolutely clear, I'm not speculating about what did or didn't happen in this particular crash. But in the above example, one person's bias nearly resulted in a victim being blamed for a crash that someone else's negligence caused. The truth only came to light because the family trusted their instincts and sought out a second opinion from professionals who made sure the evidence spoke for itself.

So as I look into this crash and see only scarce details with no clear updates months later, I can't help wondering what steps were taken to investigate this accident. Did authorities conduct thorough investigations behind the scenes to ensure the victim's loved ones got the clear, evidence-backed answers they deserved? Or, is there still more to this story that isn't getting the attention it needs?