Cherokee County, TX — December 17, 2025, William Smith was injured due to a single-car accident shortly after 9:15 p.m. along State Highway 110.

According to authorities, 61-year-old William Smith was traveling in a southbound Honda HR-V on S.H. 110 in the vicinity south of Troup when the accident took place.

Officials indicate that, for reasons yet to be confirmed, the Honda was involved in a single-vehicle collision in which it apparently struck a culvert. Smith reportedly sustained serious injuries as a result of the wreck.

Additional details pertaining to this incident are not available at this point in time. The investigation is currently ongoing.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

Evening crashes on rural highways often leave more questions than answers. When a vehicle winds up seriously damaged after hitting a culvert, the assumption is often that the driver simply lost control—but that overlooks a number of other potential explanations that deserve attention.

Did the authorities thoroughly investigate the crash?

Single-vehicle crashes late at night can be deceptively complex. Did investigators take the time to analyze the vehicle’s final position, tire marks, and potential evasive maneuvers? Was there any indication of what might have caused the driver to leave the roadway in the first place? Without a detailed reconstruction—including possible driver behavior and pre-crash movement—there’s a real risk the report won’t reflect what actually happened. And depending on the training and tools available to the responding agency, that level of investigation may not have taken place.

Has anyone looked into the possibility that a vehicle defect caused the crash?

Mechanical issues don’t always leave clear signs, especially in a crash that ends with a vehicle hitting a fixed object. Was the Honda’s steering system checked for failure? Were the brakes operating as they should? If a sensor misread or a control system malfunctioned, the driver could have lost the ability to correct course even with proper inputs. These kinds of failures are rare—but when they happen, they’re often missed unless someone specifically looks for them.

Has all the electronic data relating to the crash been collected?

A modern vehicle like the Honda HR-V likely has electronic systems that can shed light on what happened in the moments before the crash. Speed, steering input, brake application, and even throttle position can all be recorded. Combined with GPS data and, in some cases, phone records, this information helps verify whether the driver was attempting to avoid something, distracted, or responding to a sudden loss of control. That data doesn’t stay accessible forever, though—it has to be preserved early to be of use.

When a person is seriously injured in a crash with no clear cause, the default explanations often fall short. Getting to the real answer means pushing beyond the obvious and examining the details others may overlook.

• Thorough scene analysis is critical, especially in solo nighttime crashes.
• Mechanical inspections can uncover hidden causes that aren’t visible to the eye.
• Vehicle data helps confirm what the driver did—and whether the car responded.