Kalamazoo County, MI — April 7, 2025, one person was injured in an early morning truck accident on Interstate 94 near mile marker 69.

Authorities said a semi-truck crashed into a sedan that was parked on the side of the road. The truck went off the road after the collision and came to rest with its cab in the trees beside the highway.

The sedan driver suffered unspecified injuries in the crash, according to authorities. The truck driver was not injured.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Texas Township crash. The accident is still under investigation.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When a semi-truck veers off the highway and strikes a vehicle parked on the shoulder, the legal questions start stacking up quickly. Chief among them: Why did the truck leave its lane, and should the parked vehicle have even been there in the first place? The answer to either of those can shift liability, but only a full investigation will make that clear.

Commercial drivers are trained to maintain lane control at all times. Highways like I-94 are designed with wide shoulders for emergency use, but those areas are still dangerously close to live traffic. If a truck crosses the line and hits a stopped vehicle, that typically signals something went wrong, whether it was distraction, fatigue or a medical event.

To get to the bottom of it, investigators should start by reviewing the truck’s engine control module. That data will show the truck’s speed, braking behavior and steering inputs before the crash. It’s one of the best tools for figuring out whether the driver swerved or simply drifted off the road. Authorities should also check cell phone records to rule out distraction and look for dashcam footage, if available.

At the same time, the position and condition of the parked sedan matters too. Was it fully off the road? Did it have its hazard lights on? Was it disabled due to mechanical issues, or had it been parked there for a while? Drivers have a legal duty to pull completely onto the shoulder and make themselves as visible as possible if they’re forced to stop.

What makes this more concerning is that the truck didn’t just hit the car; it ran off the road entirely and ended up in the trees. That kind of trajectory often points to inattention or overcorrection, not just a simple steering mistake. It's the sort of scenario that calls for a close look at the driver’s rest schedule and whether fatigue may have been a factor.

The key takeaway here is that shoulder crashes may look simple, but they’re anything but. To understand who’s responsible, you have to go well beyond the crash scene and into the data, the background of the drivers and the condition of both vehicles. Because on a highway shoulder, a few feet of drift can mean the difference between a close call and a serious injury, or worse.