DeKalb County, IL — Darren Ratke was injured following an accident involving loose truck wheels that happened around 4:30 p.m. on Cherry Valley Road.
According to current information from authorities, the incident happened in the area of the Cherry Valley Road and Snake Road intersection. Right now, the cause of the accident remains unclear. Officials said that 28-year-old Darren Ratke was the driver of a van going through the area. It appears two tires somehow came off of a semi-trailer, and the wheels struck Ratke’s van. After this, Ratke’s van then ran off-road where it overturned. Ratke had unspecified injuries and was taken to a hospital. No other injuries were reported.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
Authorities say they cited the truck driver for unsafe equipment. As straightforward as that may seem, it’s crucial to understand why the equipment was unsafe. Except in the rare case of a manufacturing defect, wheels coming off a truck are almost always the result of misuse, improper installation, or lack of maintenance. Depending on what exactly happened here and who all was involved, there may have been a long series of mistakes that led to this crash which could have been avoided.
For example, I handled a personal injury truck wreck case a while back involving a commercial truck that experienced mechanical issues, and those issues led to a serious accident. Initial investigations showed the truck driver made a few mistakes—specifically, they failed to put out warning markers and failed to pull off the highway when they were able to do so. But those were just the driver’s mistakes. The driver’s employer arguably made more serious mistakes.
Through our investigations, we were able to obtain company records which showed the trucking company routinely skipped maintenance and avoided making desperately needed repairs for many of their trucks. They decided they’d rather risk catastrophic failure than pay the repair costs—either that, or they were just too stupid to realize they were putting lives in danger. Well, that risk obviously didn’t go in their favor. Fortunately, our investigations were able to call out their reckless business practices when initial reports completely missed them.
Maybe nothing like that led to this accident, but my concern is that authorities can sometimes be quick to move on once they feel they have a “bad guy.” That could be all there is here, but I wouldn’t rule out the possibility this was a symptom of a much larger problem until there’s clearer evidence.
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