Julie Anne Lizak Killed Semi-Truck Accident in Victoria, MN
Victoria, MN -- January 4, 2021, Julie Anne Lizak was killed as the result of an accident where Lizak's vehicle crashed with a semi-truck.
Investigators with the Minnesota State Patrol reported that the crash happened at around 8:20 a.m. near the intersection of Highway 7 and Hawks Point Lane.
According to reports, 49-year-old Julie Anne Lizak was driving a vehicle along the highway when Lizak's vehicle reportedly crossed the center line into the path of a semi-truck. As a result, Lizak's vehicle and the semi collided head-on.
Lizak succumbed to fatal injuries due to the crash. The truck driver escaped injury. Right now, additional details about the crash are unavailable.
Commentary Julie Anne Lizak Semi-Truck Accident in Victoria
Police seem to be clear on the facts leading up to the collision. With reports like these, I find people are less receptive when I talk about the importance of considering all possibilities and that the reports may be missing something. The assumption is that I'm just looking for someone besides the victim to blame, but that's just not true. The reality is I've litigated hundreds of commercial vehicle wrecks. A lot of those involved early reports that did not tell the full story, and sometimes they were just flat-out wrong.
Case in point, I had a recent case involving a head-on 18-wheeler collision. In their reports, police put the driver of the car 100% at fault, saying they crossed the center line. The victim's family called us because they just wanted to be thorough. Turns out, the police didn't have the experience or equipment to do a proper forensic reconstruction, so their reports got the facts completely backwards.
What the evidence ultimately showed was that the 18-wheeler drifted left of center first. To avoid hitting it, the car driver swerved left, but the 18-wheeler then veered back into its original lane. So when police arrived, all they saw was the car left of center, and they hastily came to a mistaken conclusion. Had we not ensured the crash got attention from experienced independent accident reconstructionists, the truth may never have come to light.
So am I saying that happened here? No. There are numerous times where independent investigations simply confirm what police already know, and even that sort of closure is important. Can I say that didn't happen here? Also no, and experience tells me that no one can say so unless they have all the facts. Making sure those facts find their way to the victim's family should be the priority right now.
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