Alejo Tapia Injured in Truck Accident in Refugio, TX

Refugio, TX — June 24, 2024, Alejo Tapia was injured in a truck accident at about 2:15 p.m. in the 1100 block of South Alamo Street/U.S. Route 77.

A preliminary accident report indicates that a 2016 Volvo semi-truck was traveling north when its trailer fishtailed on a curve near East Roca Street, dislodging its load of steel pipes. The pipes hit a 2024 Toyota RAV4 alongside the truck, as both vehicles overturned.

A passenger in the Toyota, 69-year-old Alejo Tapia, was seriously injured in the crash, according to the report. The driver and another passenger suffered possible injuries.

The truck driver, who also was injured, was cited for speeding and failing to properly secure the truck’s load, the report states.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When people read that a semi-truck lost its load of steel pipes on a Texas highway, seriously injuring a man in a nearby vehicle, they likely ask: How could something like that even happen? Shouldn’t that cargo have been secured? And if the truck was going too fast around a curve, why wasn’t that caught before it turned into a serious crash?

The preliminary report says the truck driver was cited for speeding and for not properly securing the load. That tells us there were at least two apparent failures, but the citations alone don’t explain the full picture. To really understand how something like this happens, and who all might bear responsibility, requires asking tougher questions and backing them with evidence.

Start with the basics: What exactly caused the load to shift and spill out onto the road? Was it purely the result of unsafe speed going into the curve, or were there deeper problems with how the steel pipes were loaded and secured in the first place? It’s not clear whether the cargo restraints failed, were missing altogether or if they were never appropriate for that kind of load. Each of those possibilities has its own implications, and potential liable parties.

Depending on who loaded the truck and how that process was supervised, liability may not stop with the driver. In my experience, cargo crashes often involve several players making poor decisions. For example, I handled a case where steel was loaded in a way that made it practically guaranteed to come loose in transit. That case ended with multiple companies — those who loaded the truck, those who routed it and the trucking firm itself — facing scrutiny in court.

Here, the investigation should focus not just on what the driver did behind the wheel, but also what happened before the truck ever hit the road. Who inspected the load? Did anyone sign off on its security? Were they following industry-standard cargo tie-down protocols?

Then there’s the question of evidence. Black box data can tell us the truck’s exact speed, braking and steering inputs. Dash cams, if present, can show what the driver saw and did in the moments before the truck fishtailed. And if cell phone records show distraction, that could add yet another layer of fault.

This also brings up another concern: whether the driver was adequately trained to handle that kind of load on that kind of road. It’s one thing to get a license, and quite another to handle a fully loaded rig through curves without incident. I’ve handled cases where drivers were rushed through onboarding with little more than a short test drive, training that didn’t even come close to preparing them for real-world conditions.

Key Takeaways:

• The report cites speeding and unsecured cargo, but real answers require examining how the truck was loaded and by whom.
• Evidence like black box data, dash cam footage and cell phone records may be critical to understanding what happened.
• Multiple parties beyond the driver, such as loaders or the trucking company, could share responsibility.
• Whether the driver had the training to handle that route and load should also be investigated.
• Getting the truth requires a thorough, independent investigation, not just relying on a traffic citation.