Mower County, MN — April 25, 2025, Cassy Faulhaber was killed after a truck accident at about 1 p.m. on U.S. Route 63 near Racine.
Authorities said an unknown object flew off of a northbound semi-truck and crashed through the windshield of a southbound Kia Sorento.
Kia driver Cassandra “Cassy” Danielle Faulhaber, 36, died June 9 from injuries sustained in the crash, according to authorities. Her husband, who was a passenger in the SUV, was not injured.
Authorities tracked down the truck after the accident, but it is not clear what caused the Mower County crash.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
When people hear that something flew off a semi-truck and fatally injured someone in another vehicle, one question immediately comes to mind: How does that even happen? And once you ask that, a host of others quickly follow: What was the object? Why wasn’t it secured? Who loaded it? Who was supposed to check that it was safe?
Right now, those questions don’t have clear answers. Authorities have reportedly located the truck involved, but it’s not yet clear what flew off or why. Until that’s known, it’s impossible to say who’s ultimately responsible. But I can say from experience that cargo-related crashes almost never boil down to a single bad actor.
Whenever cargo breaks loose from a trailer, the focus turns to three critical things: how it was secured, who did the securing and whether the truck driver or their employer performed the required checks before hitting the road. If the object wasn’t properly strapped down — or worse, if it wasn’t meant to be there in the first place — then someone likely failed in their basic duty to prevent this exact kind of outcome.
I tried a case not long ago involving a flatbed trailer with a huge piece of steel hanging off the back. The piece had no lights, and when another driver tried to avoid the truck, he drove right into that steel slab. The point is, everyone involved in loading and dispatching that truck played a role, not just the driver. The same principle applies here.
We also don’t know what kind of object hit the windshield or whether the driver was aware something had come loose. In some cases, loose equipment — like a strap, chain or small mechanical part — can be flung off without anyone realizing it, but that doesn’t mean no one is responsible. It may just mean the fault lies upstream, with whoever last inspected or worked on the truck.
That’s why getting to the truth in a crash like this means more than just interviewing the truck driver. It means reviewing maintenance logs, dashcam video, cargo manifests and electronic logging data. If the truck had in-cab or rear-facing cameras, as many do now, those could tell us exactly when the object detached and whether it was even visible or preventable. Investigators should also be looking at who loaded the truck and how thoroughly they followed the rules for securement.
These are the kinds of details that lawsuits often uncover, not because someone is out to assign blame, but because people deserve to know how a crash like this could occur in broad daylight on a U.S. highway.
Key Takeaways:
- When cargo falls from a truck and causes a fatal crash, key questions include what the object was, how it was secured and who was responsible for loading and inspecting it.
- Responsibility often extends beyond the driver to other parties, including loading crews, maintenance personnel and the trucking company.
- Essential evidence includes dashcam footage, maintenance logs and inspection reports, all of which help determine how the object came loose.
- At this point, it’s unclear what caused the object to fly off the truck, making a full investigation critical to finding answers.
- Real-world cases show that cargo-related crashes often involve multiple failures, not just one person making a mistake.
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