Trinity County, CA — June 9, 2025, one person was injured in a truck accident at about 12:50 p.m. on State Route 3 north of Trinity Center.

Authorities said a semi-truck drove off the highway near mile marker 63.11 for some reason, plunging about 20 feet off a cliff.

Emergency personnel rescued the driver, who was trapped under a sheet of metal that crashed through the truck window, according to authorities.

Authorities have not released any additional information the condition of the driver or what caused the crash at this time. The accident is still under investigation.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When people read that a semi-truck veered off a highway and plunged down a cliff, their first reaction is usually disbelief: How does a professional driver lose control like that? That’s a fair question, but it's also one that can't be answered without hard evidence. And in this case, that evidence still appears to be missing.

Right now, authorities haven’t said why the truck left the roadway. That leaves a major gap in the story. Was the driver distracted? Did the brakes fail? Was there a steering or tire issue? Or did the roadway itself contribute, maybe a sharp curve with no warning or poor shoulder conditions? These are not idle speculations; they're exactly the kinds of questions any serious investigation must answer.

The report mentions the driver was pinned under a sheet of metal that entered through the truck's cab. That raises yet another line of inquiry: What was this cargo, and how was it secured? In my experience, improperly secured cargo isn’t just a risk to others on the road; it can become deadly to the truck driver themselves, especially in a crash like this. Depending on how that metal was stored, it might signal a failure of basic safety protocols for transporting materials.

Then there's the truck itself. Most commercial trucks today are equipped with engine control modules, what people often call the “black box.” Those devices log speed, braking, steering input and more. If investigators obtain that data, they’ll have a clearer picture of whether the truck malfunctioned, the driver made an error or something else entirely was at play.

What’s frustrating is that none of this information has been made public yet. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist; it just means no one outside the investigation team knows if the right questions are being asked, or if the evidence is being preserved the way it should be. In crashes like this, every second counts when it comes to securing ECM data, dash cam footage and driver logs before they’re lost or overwritten.

Key Takeaways:

• It’s not yet clear why the truck left the road: driver error, mechanical failure or road conditions are all possible.
• The sheet of metal that trapped the driver raises questions about cargo security and loading procedures.
• Critical evidence may exist in the truck’s engine control module and dash cameras, if recovered in time.
• A full and independent investigation is needed to determine whether this was avoidable and who may be responsible.