Quincy, MI — September 24, 2025, one person was injured in a truck accident just before 3 p.m. on U.S. Route 12/East Chicago Road.

Authorities said an SUV crashed into the back of a semi-truck that was slowing down while heading east on U.S. 12.

The SUV driver was taken to a Kalamazoo hospital for treatment of severe injuries after the crash, according to authorities. His name has not been made public yet.

No other injuries were reported.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Branch County crash at this time.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When people hear that an SUV ran into the back of a slowing semi-truck, the assumption tends to be that the SUV driver was simply not paying attention. That might turn out to be true, but if there's one thing I've learned over decades of litigating truck crashes, it's that the surface story rarely tells the whole truth. So before anyone jumps to conclusions, we need to ask some basic but essential questions: Why was the truck slowing down? How fast was it going? Was it signaling properly? Was it in a travel lane or partially on the shoulder?

Right now, none of those questions have been answered.

Depending on whether the truck was moving or stopped, different questions arise. If it was in motion, was it going unreasonably slow for the traffic around it? Was there something about its position or speed that made it hard for following drivers to react in time? If it was stopped, or nearly so, was it pulled off the road correctly with hazard lights on? These are small details, but they make a big difference when figuring out who, if anyone, acted unreasonably.

Then there’s the matter of what kind of evidence is even available. Was the semi equipped with an engine control module (ECM) to tell us how fast it was moving and whether it braked suddenly? Did it have a rear-facing camera or visibility markings that would have made it easier to see from behind? Did the SUV driver have a working dash cam or was he possibly using a phone at the time of the crash? Without cell phone records, dash cam footage and ECM data, everyone’s just guessing.

That’s exactly why thorough investigations are necessary in these situations. In a case I handled not long ago, a trucking company claimed its driver was obeying all the rules when another vehicle rear-ended their truck. But once we pulled ECM data, we learned the truck had come to a near stop in a live lane without hazard lights. That changed everything. The facts, not the assumptions, led to the right result.

Until someone gets access to the black box data, dash cam footage and witness interviews, we won’t know whether this crash was avoidable or just a matter of bad luck. What’s clear is that serious injury cases like this deserve more than a shrug and a police report. They require a real investigation that follows the evidence wherever it leads.

Key Takeaways:

• It's unclear why the semi-truck was slowing down or whether it was still in a travel lane at the time of the crash.
• Rear-end crashes involving large trucks aren’t always cut-and-dried; truck behavior matters too.
• Critical evidence, like black box data and dash cam footage, will be needed to understand what actually happened.
• Depending on the truck's speed and visibility, liability may not rest solely with the SUV driver.
• Thorough investigation is the only way to determine accountability in complex rear-end collisions involving 18-wheelers.