Wright County, MN — May 20, 2025, two people were injured in a truck accident at about 11:10 a.m. on eastbound Interstate 94 near Monticello.

Authorities said two semi-trucks, a Volvo and a Peterbilt, collided near mile marker 196. The trucks jackknifed after going into the ditch and hitting an embankment.

The drivers — a 58-year-old Chicago man in the Volvo and a 47-year-old Eden Prairie man in the Peterbilt — were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after the crash, according to authorities. Their names have not been made public yet.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Wright County crash at this time. The accident is still under investigation.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When a crash involves not one but two semi-trucks jackknifing off the road, most people reading about it will have the same basic question: How does something like that even happen?

The authorities have said that a Volvo and a Peterbilt collided on eastbound I-94 before both vehicles went into the ditch and struck an embankment. That’s a serious sequence of events, especially considering how much mass these vehicles carry, and it raises several key questions about what led up to the impact.

At this point, there’s no public information about how the two trucks collided. Were they traveling in the same direction? Did one attempt a lane change without seeing the other? Did weather, speed or mechanical failure play a role? Depending on whether one truck hit the other or both lost control independently, the legal implications shift dramatically. Until that’s clarified, we’re left with unanswered questions that only a thorough investigation can address.

One of the first steps in any such investigation should be examining what technology was in use inside each truck. These days, many rigs are equipped with in-cab cameras, GPS tracking and engine control modules (ECMs); all of which can help piece together exactly what happened in the moments leading up to the crash. For example, the ECM might show if one truck was braking hard, accelerating suddenly or veering off its path.

Another major piece of the puzzle is the drivers themselves. Authorities have identified both men by age and hometown, but they haven’t released any information about their condition beyond noting that the injuries weren’t life-threatening. That’s fortunate, but we still don’t know if either driver made an error, or if perhaps one of them was reacting to a problem caused by the other.

Beyond the scene itself, the companies that operate these trucks can also bear responsibility depending on their role in hiring, training, and supervising their drivers. I’ve seen cases where companies put drivers on the road who had already been fired multiple times elsewhere, people who had no business driving 80,000-pound vehicles at highway speeds. In those cases, the driver made the final mistake, but it was the company’s poor decisions that created the conditions for disaster.

Until the investigation wraps up — and assuming someone actually digs deep enough to pull ECM data, driver logs and company records — we won’t know what really happened here. But what’s clear is that a two-truck collision with jackknifing and ditching doesn’t just happen randomly. There's a chain of events, and somebody had to start it.

Key Takeaways

• It’s not yet clear what caused the two semi-trucks to collide or which direction they were traveling.
• ECM data, dash cams and call logs can help reconstruct the events leading up to the crash.
• Both driver behavior and trucking company oversight may come under scrutiny.
• Without answers, it’s impossible to determine who’s responsible, but evidence will tell the story.
• A proper investigation will go beyond the crash scene to examine every link in the chain.