Franklin, OH — June 24, 2025, a teen was killed and another person was injured in a truck accident at about 5:15 p.m. on State Route 123 near the exit from Interstate 75.

Authorities said a 1995 Peterbilt semi-truck exited the interstate and hit a 2006 Suzuki DL1000 motorcycle that has been going south on Ohio 123. The truck also crashed into a raised median divided before overturning.

The motorcyclist, a 17-year-old from Dayton, died after being transported to a local hospital, according to authorities.

The truck driver was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after the crash, authorities said.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Warren County crash at this time. The accident is still being investigated.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When people hear about a crash involving a semi-truck and a motorcycle, their first question is often: How did that happen? According to reports, a Peterbilt 18-wheeler exited I-75 in Franklin, Ohio, and hit a motorcycle on State Route 123. The impact killed the teen motorcyclist and caused the truck to overturn. What’s not clear is why the truck exited in a way that put it in the path of oncoming traffic, or whether something went wrong with the truck itself, the driver’s decision-making or both.

Those are the kind of unanswered questions that only a full investigation can resolve.

Depending on whether the truck crossed into the southbound lanes or if the motorcycle was in the truck’s path as it exited, different legal questions come into play. Did the truck driver fail to yield? Was the driver speeding or distracted? Or did a mechanical failure, like brake trouble or steering issues, make the truck uncontrollable?

To figure that out, we’d need to know what the driver was doing in the seconds leading up to the crash. Was he on the phone? Did he brake? Did he steer erratically? Modern trucks often carry engine control modules (ECMs), in-cab cameras and GPS tracking, all of which can help reconstruct what happened. Phone records, dispatch logs and driver logs could also show whether the driver was distracted or under pressure to rush.

In my experience, even when a trucker makes a clear mistake, that may not be the end of the story. I’ve handled cases where companies hired drivers with troubling records or failed to properly train them for situations exactly like this. For example, a crash I handled involved a driver who was hired after getting fired from multiple other jobs. The company that hired her did the bare minimum to test her driving skills, and that failure set the stage for a deadly wreck. When you put someone unqualified behind the wheel of 40 tons of steel, bad outcomes aren’t just possible; they’re predictable.

We also don’t know whether the truck’s path was influenced by road design, signage or poor visibility at the exit ramp. But if the truck struck the median and overturned after hitting the motorcycle, that suggests loss of control. The question is: Why?

Key Takeaways:

• It's not yet clear how the truck ended up in the path of the motorcycle; different scenarios raise different legal questions.
• Black box data, dash cams and phone records can help determine whether the truck driver was distracted or lost control.
• The trucking company’s role — hiring, training, supervision — may also be a factor if deeper issues emerge.
• Determining who is responsible requires far more than a police report; it takes a deep dive into all available evidence.
• Without answers to key questions, assigning blame now would be premature.