Nicholas Pimentel Killed in Truck Accident on Culebra Rd in San Antonio, TX
UPDATE (July 28, 2022): The passenger killed in this accident has been identified as Nicholas Pimentel.
San Antonio, TX — July 26, 2022, a 31-year-old man died in a collision with a tractor-trailer on Culebra Road in Far Northwest San Antonio.
According to reports the incident happened around 9:00 a.m. on Culebra at Talley Road, close to Harlan High School. Preliminary investigation suggests a 17-year-old girl driving an SUV made a turn into the path of an oncoming 18-wheeler. The truck driver reportedly tried to avoid the SUV but was unsuccessful.
The SUV's passenger died in the collision. The teen driver was taken to an area hospital in unknown condition. No other injuries were reported.
The investigation is ongoing. No further information is currently available.
Commentary on San Antonio Truck Accident on Culebra Road
I often stress the importance of keeping an open mind after any crash, no matter how preliminary reports may look. Some likely feel the news is pretty clear about what happened in San Antonio, but I've seen reports overlook or omit crucial details too many times not to take them with a grain or two of salt.
A second, more careful look often confirms what police thought at the outset, but I've also worked on plenty of cases where crucial information was found that law enforcement missed--things that completely changed how a crash was perceived.
In one recent case, for example, police said a driver turned in front of an 18-wheeler seemingly without cause, leading to a fatal crash. Her family didn't accept that she'd be so careless and asked us to look again. Our investigators found some unusual details omitted in police reports: There was a dense fog in the area at the time, the truck was traveling too fast for conditions, and the truck's headlights might have been malfunctioning. All that put together is a clear recipe for dangerously-reduced visibility, which clearly is a far cry from "without cause."
Obviously the situation in San Antonio isn't identical to that, but the point is more that it's important to weigh all the potential variables instead of jumping to a conclusion and then refusing to budge. With that in mind the victims and their loved ones may be better served by independent investigations rather than waiting for police reports. At the very least they deserve to know that every effort was made to find the whole story.
