New Madrid, MO — The authorities in New Madrid County reported to the Missouri State Highway Patrol that an 8-year old boy was badly injured along with three others after their car was rear-ended by a semi-truck on I-55. This was on Wednesday afternoon, May 27, at about 3:00 p.m. and the victims were identified as Dequez Sanders, 8, Zach Moore, 12, Roshia Moore, 37, and Roosevelt Moore, 60.
This accident happened just north of Exit 44, the police said.
The Moores were driving north along I-55 yesterday afternoon when they started to slow down. A semi-truck driven by 23-year old Kevin Wilson was behind them, but didn’t brake in time. The larger truck rear-ended the Moores’ Chevy Suburban, leaving 8-year old Dequez Sanders with very serious injuries.
The others, Roshia, Roosevelt, and Zach, were all transported to a hospital nearby and were treated for less-serious injuries. The truck driver, Kevin Wilson, however may face charges later on for not braking in time.
The MSHP hasn’t released many details at this point, so it’s hard to tell what will happen until a more official report is put out.
Map of the Accident
View from the Road
Commentary:
From the lack of detail provided by the police reports I’m reading, it’s hard to tell what really happened here. However, I think this much is clear: this semi-truck may have either been following too closely or wasn’t paying attention to the road ahead of him. There’s no explanation for why this smaller car slowed down on the interstate – perhaps they blew a tire – but that’s hardly the point.
When you’re behind the wheel of a car, especially a large 18-wheeler truck, the duty is on you to make sure that you keep aware of your surroundings and that you leave enough room to stop in case of an emergency.
Did this truck driver do either of those things? Furthermore, is he qualified to a commercial truck? Have a history of accidents on his record? It may sound like I’m asking lots of questions and being accusatory, but simple investigative questions like that help determine what really happened in an accident and whether it was preventable or not.
Again, I don’t really know all the specifics here, but off the top of my head, it sounds like this is something that probably shouldn’t have ever happened in the first place. Drivers should always be on the lookout for accidents, construction zones, traffic, etc — and that goes double for big rig truck drivers.
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