Erie County, OH — August 31, 2025, Hongwei Wang and Zhangl Liu were killed in a truck accident at about 7:35 a.m. on Interstate 90/Ohio Turnpike near Berlin Heights.
Authorities said a Toyota Sienna crashed into the back of a Peterbilt semi-truck in traffic caused by an earlier accident near the Frailey Road overpass.
Toyota driver Hongwei Wang and passenger Zhangli Liu, both 56-year-old Chicago residents, were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, according to authorities.
The truck driver was not injured, authorities said.
Authorities have not released any additional information about the Erie County crash at this time.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
When a minivan rear-ends an 18-wheeler, most people assume it’s an open-and-shut case: the rear driver must be at fault. But in serious truck crashes like this one, where two people lost their lives, that assumption can be dangerously incomplete. The real question isn’t just what happened, but why it happened, and the answers are rarely as simple as they first appear.
Authorities say traffic had slowed on Interstate 90 due to an earlier wreck when a Toyota Sienna crashed into the back of a Peterbilt semi-truck. That tells us two things: one, there was a disruption on the road that may have made conditions unpredictable, and two, the truck was either stopped or moving very slowly when it was hit. What it doesn’t tell us is why the minivan driver couldn’t stop in time, or whether the truck driver or the trucking company did anything to contribute to the crash.
For example, was the semi fully in its lane and visible to approaching traffic? Were its brake lights working? Was the truck stopped in a predictable location, or had it come to a sudden, unexpected stop that gave trailing vehicles no time to react? None of that information is available right now, but it will be essential to finding out what really caused this crash.
This is where a thorough investigation makes all the difference. Most modern 18-wheelers are equipped with ECMs (engine control modules) that log speed, brake usage and throttle position. That data can help determine whether the truck stopped suddenly or gradually. In-cab cameras and dash cams, if present, may show whether the trucker was distracted or whether traffic conditions shifted unexpectedly. Those are objective pieces of evidence that can shed light on exactly what happened.
We also need to consider the trucking company’s role. Did they provide proper training for the driver on how to respond to slowdowns and lane closures? Were they monitoring hours of service to ensure the driver wasn’t fatigued? In one of my recent cases, a company hired a driver with multiple terminations from previous jobs and gave her a quick, 20-minute road test before turning her loose in an 80,000-pound rig. That crash, too, looked at first like driver error, until the evidence showed the company had put someone on the road who had no business being there.
All of this shows that even in cases where a vehicle strikes a truck from behind, it’s not enough to assume fault based on position alone. Serious crashes like this demand a serious investigation, with hard evidence, not speculation, guiding the conclusions.
Key Takeaways:
- Just because a vehicle rear-ends a truck doesn’t automatically mean the truck was blameless.
- Investigators should examine ECM data, dash cam footage and lighting or visibility issues to determine what really happened.
- Trucking company training, hiring and supervision may play a role in how a crash unfolds.
- Early assumptions about fault can obscure deeper causes unless all the evidence is examined.
- The key to accountability is not guesswork. It’s getting the facts through a thorough investigation.
call us 
Email Us 
Text us