Police Say 2 Injured on U.S. 79 in Palestine, TX after 18-Wheeler Accident
Update: The truck driver in this accident was identified as Scott Hollis Reagan, 30 years old, a local Palestine man. He was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, apparently. The driver of the “car” that Reagan hit was Dobby Darty, 47, and he was actually driving a tanker truck.
www.palestineherald.comPalestine, TX — Outside of Palestine, at the intersection of U.S. 79 and Old Neches Highway, there was a serious accident involving a pickup truck hauling a camper, an 18-wheeler truck, and another car. No names were released, but it appears that an 18-wheeler lost control and rear-ended the camper, then crashed head-on into another car along U.S. 79 this past Wednesday, May 6, 2015. The accident happened in the afternoon hours, the news said. Emmanuel Arrita was driving his pickup truck (hauling a camper trailer) along U.S. 79 and was trying to turn left on Old Neches Highway last Wednesday when he told police that he noticed an 18-wheeler truck approaching him from behind that did not appear to be braking or slowing down.
Arrita tried to steer off the road to avoid a rear-end collision, but the 18-wheeler truck clipped the back of the camper trailer Arrita was hauling and went into oncoming traffic, where the big rig hit another car head-on.
The drivers of the oncoming car and the 18-wheeler were both taken to nearby hospitals, but neither injuries were believed to be life-threatening. So far, it’s not clear why the 18-wheeler driver didn’t slow down in time that afternoon, but more investigation from the Texas DPS was expected.
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— Sheila
I'm a former employee. I had brought up this exact scenario and suggested a maintenance procedure that would eliminate the possibility of this type injury. Obviously my warning went unheeded.
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I was actually a couple cars back from this wreck, one of the first on the scene, and helped administer CPR on the victims. The truck driver was going way too fast, but it was actually his trailer that swung around and hit the suv, the semi-truck ended in the median.
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Responses (2)
Why is it legal to write things that you do not know for fact? My 30 year old brother was driving the 18 wheeler and in ICU with major injuries. We. Have spoken to the state trooper and he confirmed my brother did all he could do to stop but the weight he was hauling made it impossible to stop. When the police report comes out you will see the truth. So sick of reading articles making assumptions not realizing what it’s doing to our family and the other families as well. God was with these men that day and to see pictures posted of My brother bleeding and trapped in his truck waiting on the firefighters to cut him out is heart breaking and not right to post.
I’m sorry that your brother was injured in this accident and we’ll certainly update our post to reflect that. However, assuming that the news reports were correct here, it sounds like this pickup truck & camper were simply making a left-hand turn that was perfectly legal when the 18-wheeler rear-ended it. It doesn’t sound like the pickup truck slammed on its brakes or was behaving negligently. Furthermore, to say that the 18-wheeler couldn’t stop in time due to a heavy load implies one of two things:
– The truck was truly overloaded and the brakes couldn’t handle the weight, in which case whoever employed your brother (or loaded the truck) might be liable for his injuries
– The truck just didn’t stop in time because the driver either wasn’t paying attention or was following too closely. In that scenario, the fault would still be on the driver for failure to stop in time.
At the end of the day, this was an unfortunate accident, but it seems like it was avoidable and not a “freak” accident at all. Again, if the news reports are accurate, then I think I’m being fair in explaining how the law would apply to this situation. If it’s not, then obviously we all need to re-think what’s been said.
To be completely honest with you, it’s probably not a good idea to publicly advertise that the trucker couldn’t stop due to the heavy load because that essentially implies he wasn’t safely handling his rig. You can’t drive a dump truck the same way you’d drive a Miata, and the same principle applies here. A heavier vehicle with slower brake times calls for more cautious driving, that’s the long and short of it. If the truck was truly overloaded, then whoever put the cargo on that 18-wheeler might have incurred some liability, but I don’t know who loaded the truck or what it was carrying.
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Why is it legal to write things that you do not know for fact? My 30 year old brother was driving the 18 wheeler and in ICU with major injuries. We. Have spoken to the state trooper and he confirmed my brother did all he could do to stop but the weight he was hauling made it impossible to stop. When the police report comes out you will see the truth. So sick of reading articles making assumptions not realizing what it’s doing to our family and the other families as well. God was with these men that day and to see pictures posted of My brother bleeding and trapped in his truck waiting on the firefighters to cut him out is heart breaking and not right to post.
I’m sorry that your brother was injured in this accident and we’ll certainly update our post to reflect that. However, assuming that the news reports were correct here, it sounds like this pickup truck & camper were simply making a left-hand turn that was perfectly legal when the 18-wheeler rear-ended it. It doesn’t sound like the pickup truck slammed on its brakes or was behaving negligently. Furthermore, to say that the 18-wheeler couldn’t stop in time due to a heavy load implies one of two things:
At the end of the day, this was an unfortunate accident, but it seems like it was avoidable and not a “freak” accident at all. Again, if the news reports are accurate, then I think I’m being fair in explaining how the law would apply to this situation. If it’s not, then obviously we all need to re-think what’s been said.
To be completely honest with you, it’s probably not a good idea to publicly advertise that the trucker couldn’t stop due to the heavy load because that essentially implies he wasn’t safely handling his rig. You can’t drive a dump truck the same way you’d drive a Miata, and the same principle applies here. A heavier vehicle with slower brake times calls for more cautious driving, that’s the long and short of it. If the truck was truly overloaded, then whoever put the cargo on that 18-wheeler might have incurred some liability, but I don’t know who loaded the truck or what it was carrying.