Seguin, TX — There was a serious accident reported along I-10 several miles east of Seguin that killed a teenager from South Texas and badly injured a couple from Seguin: Melvin and Patricia Grones. The accident happened around 5:15 p.m. on Saturday evening, June 11th.
The Grones were driving their car (a Buick) west along I-10 that evening when they came upon an an accident that had traffic backed up. Apparently, a pickup truck hauling an RV caught fire by accident and was disabled in the middle of the road. Firetrucks and ambulances were at the scene, trying to put out the flames and control it.
As the Grones stopped for traffic, an 18-wheeler behind them failed to brake in time and rear-ended their car, pushing it off the road.
The 18-wheeler then went on to hit an SUV, killing a young boy inside and injuring 3 others, and another 18-wheeler.
At the last update, the Grones and the members of the SUV were being flown to a hospital in San Antonio with serious injuries. The truck driver who started the accident was identified as 56-year old Thomas Rangell, who wasn’t harmed.
Map of the Area (Harwood)
Commentary:
Everyone’s knee-jerk reaction when reading about this is going to be to blame the truck driver. I can’t say that I disagree, since it seems rather obvious that he failed to brake in time. However, I want to point out to my readers that there are often things behind the scenes that we’re not seeing. For example, who did this truck driver work for? Were any laws being broken by the truck driver when the accident happened? Any safety regulations being violated?
For a regular driver, being distracted by our phone, for example, is very dangerous and can result in an accident. But, there generally isn’t a law against being on your cellphone. It’s different for truck drivers, though, because it is against federal law for truckers to use their cellphones while driving a commercial vehicle. Same offense, but the punishment is much greater.
The reason for bringing this up is that I think there may be more here than what we’re seeing in the news reports. Yes, this truck driver failed to brake in time, but why? Was he distracted by something? Had he fallen asleep at the wheel? If we took at look at the company he worked for, would we find a lackadaisical attitude toward safety standards?
This driver ought to be held accountable for his actions, of course, but let’s think about the bigger picture. If he was working for a company that has a history of drivers getting into serious accidents or constantly being cited for violations, I think we have a pretty good idea of what caused this accident. To avoid this same thing from happening to another family in another accident, the company would have to be held liable for what happened here along with their driver. Think of them as accomplices to the same crime, as it were.
— Grossman Law Offices
