Cleburne County, AL — April 13, 2025, Hollis Stewart was killed following a truck accident just before 4:45 p.m. along Interstate Highway 20.
According to authorities, 58-year-old Hollis Stewart was traveling in a motor vehicle on I.H. 20 in the vicinity of River Road when the accident took place.
Details surrounding the accident remain scarce. Officials indicate that, for as yet unknown reasons, a collision took place between the passenger vehicle and a Peterbilt truck. Stewart reportedly suffered fatal injuries due to the wreck. News has not reported whether or not any other parties were harmed. Additional information pertaining to this incident are not available at this point in time. The investigation is currently ongoing.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
When a passenger vehicle collides with a commercial truck on the interstate and someone loses their life, there are always serious questions that need to be asked—questions that rarely get answered by surface-level crash reports. In my experience, the presence of a heavy truck like a Peterbilt in a fatal collision often signals a need to examine not just what happened in the moment, but how that moment came to be.
The first issue that should be investigated is how the vehicles came into contact. Was the truck changing lanes? Slowing for traffic? Was the passenger vehicle attempting to merge, pass, or avoid something in the roadway? On highways like I-20, speeds are high and reaction times are short. If either vehicle made an unexpected move—or if visibility or spacing was compromised—it could have left the other with no time to avoid a deadly outcome.
That’s particularly important when one of the vehicles is an 18-wheeler. These trucks take longer to stop, have wider blind spots, and require more space to maneuver. Professional drivers are trained to account for those limitations, but training only matters if it’s actually followed. If the truck driver was distracted, fatigued, or operating under time pressure, that changes the nature of the incident from a traffic accident to a preventable failure.
And if the Peterbilt was operating under a commercial carrier, the company’s role must be part of the investigation. Was the driver screened and properly qualified? Was the truck maintained in roadworthy condition? Was the route appropriate for the vehicle type and cargo? I’ve seen far too many cases where the decisions made behind the scenes—by dispatchers, supervisors, and fleet managers—play just as large a role in a crash as anything that happens behind the wheel.
From where I sit, a fatal crash involving a commercial truck should never be treated as an open-and-shut case. It’s not just about the crash itself—it’s about the chain of decisions, responsibilities, and conditions that led to that outcome. Only by uncovering those details can the right people be held accountable and those affected by the wreck receive the clarity and closure they deserve.
call us 
Email Us 
Text us