Kimberly Burns Injured in Truck Accident in Harris County, TX
Harris County, TX — October 14, 2023, Kimberly Burns was injured following a commercial truck accident at around 5:09 a.m. along Bay Area Boulevard.
Authorities said in preliminary statements on the crash that it happened in the area of the Bay Area and Choate Road intersection.
According to officials, 42-year-old Kimberly Eshawn Burns was in a Toyota Avalon going northbound along Bay Area Boulevard. Up ahead, authorities say that a tractor-trailer was pulling off a driveway in an attempt to make a u-turn and go southbound. While turning, the truck went across northbound lanes, and Burns's Toyota crashed into the side of the truck.
As a result of the accident, Burns had what were described as incapacitating injuries. There were no other confirmed injuries. Authorities did not list any particular factors contributing to the crash, but they say the truck driver claimed "she did not observe any vehicle behind her" prior to attempting the u-turn. So why was that?
Early in the morning, visibility can certainly be an issue. But short of the victim's headlights not being on, that shouldn't really be a problem for any reasonably prudent professional driver. Now, authorities did not specify if the victim's headlights were on, but they generally only point out if they're off when they should be on. I wish they would include some sort of "Yes/No" designation like they do with seatbelts. That may seem like an innocuous detail to leave out, but believe it or not, it's caused problems before.
I litigated a case against a trucking company a while back where, much like is described here, a truck driver turned in front of a driver and caused a serious wreck. As things proceeded, we were shocked when the insurance company began claiming our client's headlights weren't on leading up to the crash. That just didn't make any sense, but things only became more baffling as we looked into these claims.
At the wreck yard where authorities left the victim's vehicle, we found something shocking. The car had no headlights. Mind you, they weren't broken—they were just gone. On a hunch, we took a look at who had been visiting the yard, and the name of one of the members of the defense team immediately stood out. It turns out they came to the yard with a bag of tools, and they stole the victim's headlights just to make their bogus defense.
To this day, I can't help but shake my head at the audacity of that company to try to pull off something so heinous and underhanded. Moreover, I can't fathom a world in which that company got away with their actions and cheated a family out of the resolution they deserved.
It's stories like those I've found throughout my career that show the importance of knowing every detail about a serious truck wreck, no matter how minor those details may seem. I can only hope authorities here are equally thorough behind the scenes and ensuring they're giving a clearer picture to the people affected by this crash than what little they've released to the public.
