Marcus Harrison Killed in Truck Accident in Madisonville, TX
Madisonville, TX -- A collision between a passenger car, and a piece of equipment fallen from a big rig claimed the life of 58-year-old Marcus Harrison Friday, January 27, 2017.!--more-->
The collision took place on Interstate 45 near Madisonville, TX.
The report claims the 18-wheeler careened off the highway, and when the driver attempted to correct the vehicle, the large piece of equipment fell from the back. Moments later, the southbound vehicle occupied by Mr. Harrison, collided with the equipment, killing him at the scene.
The exact cause of the incident has not been determined.
Authorities are currently investigating the details of the incident.
The report provided no further information.
map of the area
Commentary
There are few real guarantees in life, but I can say for certain that this accident is far more complicated than one could fit into a three paragraph media report. I'm not just saying this to be provocative, the fact is these early media accounts are just mining what amounts to table scraps left behind by the preliminary police reports. And while each and every truck accident has fact patterns as unique as a snowflake, this one bears a lot of similarity to one litigated by our firm yeas ago.
In the case we litigated, there was a truck driver in Corpus Christi, TX hired to haul an 8' wide, 1" thick, 40' long piece of steel on the back of a 30' long trailer. This means, of course, that there was 10 feet of steel hanging from the back of the truck. To put the size of this piece of steel into perspective, the average yellow school bus maxes out at 36'. I don't think it takes a leap in the imagination to see where this could become disastrous.
That evening, the driver of this behemoth rolled through a stop sign. Within moments, the driver of a passenger car approached the intersection, swerved to miss the back of the truck's trailer, and collided with the overhanging load at the rear of the truck. The violent collision between the passenger car an the overhanging steel had fatal consequences for the car's driver.
What does this have to do with Friday's accident north of Madisonville, Texas? Well, one thing all accidents share in common is the need for subjective, independent investigations. As it turns out, though the driver in the Corpus Christi, TX accident was negligent, he was woefully under-insured comparable to the damages left in his wake. This means the truck driver was left in a position to receive what amounts to a slap on the wrist. Most people would have simply thrown in the towel at this point. But, our experience with truck accident cases lead to us to the conclusion there was far more at play here than irresponsible driving.
Following a thorough, independent investigation of all parties involved, we were able to uncover the fact that the driver of the truck was not responsible for loading the piece of steel. In essence, he rolled up to the factory, hooked up his truck to the load, and drove off. This meant that there were others whose primary job was to load 40' of steel and they decided it would be best to place it onto a 30' trailer. Bolstered by this newly discovered knowledge, we were able to successfully bring a claim against those who were responsible for loading the steel onto the flatbed.
About 1/3rd of all accidents involving an 18-wheeler can be traced back to something that the truck driver did wrong. However, in this case, unless the truck driver was the one who loaded the equipment on to the flat bad, it's tough to see what he or she may have done wrong. Just as it would be unfair to blame a driver who had no control over how their trailer was loaded, it would be equally irresponsible to not investigate who loaded the trailer in the Madisonville accident. Only then can we know who to hold accountable for this senseless incident.
--Grossman Law Offices