Brazoria County, TX — August 12, 2024, Alyssa Eichhorn was injured following an 18-wheeler accident at around midnight along County Road 64.
Authorities released information saying the crash took place in the area of the County Road 64 and Crystal View Drive intersection.
According to officials, 18-year-old Alyssa Eichhorn was in a Hyundai Elantra going eastbound on C.R. 64. Up ahead, it appears a semi-truck had been broken down across traffic lanes and was waiting for a tow truck. While there, Eichhorn’s vehicle crashed into the side of the truck.
Due to the crash, Alyssa Eichhorn reportedly sustained serious injuries. No other injuries were reported. It’s unclear if any charges or citations were filed.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
I’ve often found that when people read about a truck experiencing mechanical issues, they mistake whatever comes from that as being “unavoidable.” Things just aren’t that simple, though. At midnight on a rural county road, it’s unlikely the victim had any way of seeing and avoiding an unexpected obstruction ahead of them. However, depending on what led to the breakdown and what steps were taken after the truck broke down, the obstruction itself may have been preventable.
For example, I handled a case a while back where a truck had mechanical issues and stopped on a highway. It led to a serious crash, which the trucking company swore was unavoidable. Well, we conducted independent investigations, and the evidence showed that the truck driver and their employer made big mistakes.
For one, the truck broke down several minutes before the collision. In that time, the driver made no attempt to put out flares or cones to warn motorists of the obstruction, which commercial drivers have a legal obligation to do in a reasonable amount of time. Secondly, maintenance records showed the mechanical issue could have been prevented, but the company was putting off maintenance work in an effort to cut costs. It was inevitable the truck would break down eventually. And on top of all that, the truck driver didn’t even need to stop. Instead, the driver panicked and stopped in the middle of the road rather than putting on their emergency lights and finding somewhere safe to pull over.
In that example, it wasn’t just some freak occurrence that led to an unavoidable accident. It was a series of avoidable mistakes that happened due to negligence. I’m not saying that happened here, necessarily, but it highlights the need for answering critical questions. Why did this truck break down? Were efforts made to ensure the obstruction was visible? How much time passed between the breakdown and the accident? Was this incident foreseeable and preventable? And if so, why weren’t those preventative steps taken? If a family finds that they’re not getting answers to these kinds of questions, it’s possible there’s more to the story than they’re being told.
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