Jose Manuel Cantu, Pearland Man Injured in 18-wheeler Accident in Harris County, TX
Harris County, TX -- February 27, 2023, Jose Manuel Cantu and a Pearland man were injured in an accident where an 18-wheeler hit traffic.
Investigators said that the incident happened just before 4:00 p.m. along 22500 I-10. Initial details indicate that vehicles were going along eastbound lanes of the interstate at the time when an 18-wheeler somehow slammed into a line of vehicles.
Due to this collision, two of the drivers involved had injuries said to be incapacitating. They were 69-year-old Jose Manuel Cantu in a Ford F-150 and a 24-year-old Pearland man in a GMC pickup. It's unclear if charges or citations are being considered at this time.
Some may think it's just a matter of time before the truck driver faces consequences. It certainly wouldn't surprise me, considering these kinds of accidents almost always involve someone on their phone, speeding, or following too closely. But I learned a long time ago never to take that sort of thing for granted, especially when there are people in need of help.
For one, this could be an unusual situation the truck driver couldn't necessarily avoid. A medical episode, a mechanical defect, tire issues, road hazards, other reckless drivers—even if something seems unlikely, experienced investigators know how important it is to be thorough. But even if something more likely such as distracted driving led to the crash, that doesn't mean a whole lot without clear evidence of what did and what didn't happen.
For example, I had a case a while back involving a truck driver high on narcotics. Open-and-shut, right? Well, his employer was adamant that it wasn't the drugs that caused the crash, but rather an ambulance's lights blinding the driver. As ridiculous as that sounds, I've seen flimsier defenses find footing when left unchallenged.
That's why we proceeded to search through every ambulance company in the area until we found one that reported being in that area at the time of the crash. Thanks to their medic's meticulous records, we were able to prove the ambulance in questions was nearly a mile down the road—much too far to blind anyone. It was only after all that the trucking company cooperated.
I'm not trying to suggest that anything did or didn't happen here, of course. It's just that I've seen far too many people who assumed a rear-end collision was nothing too complex only to find they should have been taking things seriously from day one. I can only hope authorities here were prudent enough to do so here so that the victims and families involved can get all the answers they need to show exactly what happened here and who's responsible.
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