Charles Johnson Injured in Single-Vehicle Crash off US-80 in Sunnyvale, TX
Sunnyvale, TX — January 27, 2022, 21-year-old Charles Johnson was injured in a single-vehicle accident off U.S. Highway 80 in Sunnyvale.
According to reports the incident happened around 2:20 a.m. on an exit ramp from US-80 East. Preliminary investigation suggests Johnson was driving a Ford Fusion east when he took the exit toward Lawson Road. Reports say he exited at high speeds, lost control, and the car flipped over. It then rolled over into the median between the highway and the service road.
Johnson was ejected as the vehicle rolled and suffered serious injuries.
No further information is available at this time.
Commentary on Charles Johnson Accident off US-80 in Sunnyvale
I don't know anything more about this crash than what reports say, and things may have gone exactly as described. However, I've done this long enough that I know to take first impressions from police with a grain or two of salt. For instance, when a crash report says someone was ejected, unlike investigators I'm not so quick to say they didn't have a seat belt on.
I understand how it seems reasonable to think someone thrown out of a vehicle may not have been strapped in, but here's the thing: If police find someone outside their vehicle at a crash scene they'll reflexively say the seat belt wasn't used without much further thought. However, that flies in the face of statistics which say the majority of drivers actually do buckle up. I'm sure that police are sometimes right about it, but not nearly as often as it's suggested in crash reports.
That's why instead of blaming the driver right away it's best to also look into whether their restraints functioned properly. Belts break, fail to lock, and come apart at the buckle more often than most people would think. Heck, even the seat itself can come loose sometimes, yet in many of those situations reports still point fingers at people whose only mistake was trusting their vehicle's safety features. If police make up their minds that a victim goofed but the victim disagrees, it often takes independent investigations to end the confusion with clear evidence.
