Crane County, TX — November 27, 2023, Freddy Antonio Arias was injured following a semi-trailer accident at around 4:15 a.m. on Interstate 20.
Authorities released a summary of their initial findings following the accident, which they say happened on the north service road of I-20 just east of Monahans.
According to officials, 61-year-old Freddy Antonio Arias was identified as the operator of a tractor-trailer which somehow got stuck in sand along north side shoulder of the service road.
Details suggest that Arias’s 18-wheeler was off the right side of the westbound travel lane facing eastbound. A second tractor-trailer was apparently on the service road blocking both lanes of travel, but authorities believe the truck was on the eastbound lane facing eastbound. It’s not clear right now if that truck driver was a co-worker of Mr. Arias, a service truck called to help move the stuck semi, or just a fellow trucker trying to help.
As the second 18-wheeler was attempting to pull the first one out of its position, police say a westbound tractor-trailer did not avoid the second 18-wheeler blocking lanes of travel. Those trucks collided, sending the third one off-road where it hit Arias and his truck. As a result, Arias was said to have incapacitating injuries.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
To be clear up front, these are only preliminary public statements, and I certainly don’t know anything more about these events than what the statements say. But I’m looking at images of this stretch of road and reading the details, and I can’t help wondering if authorities may be overlooking something. Is it possible that the approaching westbound truck driver should have been able to see something was wrong up ahead and slowed down before getting into a crash?
A very important question that came to my mind which I can’t see authorities discuss is whether or not the lights on Mr. Arias’s truck were on, as well. If I were approaching a stretch of road where there were lights in the oncoming lane and lights to the right of my lane (off the side of the road), that might make me slow down because there could be something wrong. Especially if there had been a crash up ahead, for example, it’s entirely reasonable something could be in the road. Would a reasonably prudent truck driver approaching this scene have been able to react such that this collision would have been avoided?
Don’t get me wrong—the way authorities currently describe events does make it seem like that truck driver may not have been able to avoid the collision. That’s especially true if the only lights visible to the oncoming driver were the lights of the truck pulling the 18-wheeler off the side of the road. After all, if I were driving down a narrow, dark, two-way road, and all I could see up ahead was a pair of headlights in the oncoming lane, my first assumption would be that it’s just another driver passing me. I wouldn’t think there was a trailer hiding behind those lights blocking my entire lane of travel.
Ultimately, there were likely multiple mistakes that led to this accident, and there are still many details authorities have yet to confirm to the public. My concern is that this all may not be quite as one-sided as folks may think. Digging into the events further could show that there were multiple ways this all could have been avoided.
call us 
Email Us 
Text us