Lancaster County, PA — July 20, 2024, Donnell Hickson, Decir Hickson, and a child were killed after a semi-truck accident at 4:30 a.m. on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
According to officials with the Pennsylvania State Police, the crash happened in the Penn Township area north of Manheim near Lebanon Road.
Investigators said that 43-year-old Donnell Hickson and his children, 18-year-old Decir Hickson and an 11-year-old girl, were in a Honda Accord going along the toll road. In a series of events not clear right now, a FedEx tractor-trailer somehow overturned, landing on the Honda and crushing it. Due to this, Donnell Hickson, Decir Hickson, and the young girl were killed. The truck driver was taken from the scene with non-life-threatening injuries.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
Clearly, there will have to be thorough investigations here to find out what went wrong. My concern, though, is how often I speak to people who assumed authorities had that sort of thing covered only to be left with unanswered questions. Folks don’t realize just how complex a commercial truck wreck investigation can be, and getting clear evidence is often beyond the scope of a typical police investigation.
Essentially, a commercial truck wreck investigation, when handled properly, delves into all kinds of unusual, intricate details that rarely come up in standard crash investigations. Did driver inexperience lead to the crash? Were there issues with neglected maintenance? Did this involve an employer coercing their driver into working long hours or cutting corners to meet unreasonable deadlines? Was there a manufacturing defect that no one involved in the crash could have foreseen? Was there another driver involved that initial reports overlooked? Was this the result of a medical emergency, foreseeable or otherwise? Were there mistakes from someone who had a history of reckless driving? Were there issues with the roadway that local officials have neglected to fix?
Common or not, investigators need to be able to answer these questions. The fact of the matter is most police investigations overlook a lot of these possibilities, putting far too much focus on only surface-level details like distracted driving and speeding (which are also important, of course). That’s why my general rule of thumb is this: if victims and families feel that all of their questions are being answered, and they get an explanation that makes sense to them, it’s likely authorities handled everything appropriately. However, if they find themselves asking questions that authorities aren’t answering, and if they’re left with doubts about the answers they are getting, then it’s likely authorities are coming up short. That’s usually when there needs to be experienced independent investigators there to pick up the slack and get those involved the answers they deserve.
call us 
Email Us 
Text us