Bettendorf, IA — October 24, 2025, Jamie Zank was killed and Joel Zank and a child were injured in a morning truck accident in the 6800 block of State Street/U.S. Route 67.
Authorities said a semi-truck collided with a pickup after pulling onto State Street from a local business amid heavy fog.
Jaime Zank, 43, died in the crash, according to authorities, while husband Joel Zank, 41, and their 9-year-old son were seriously injured.
The truck driver was not hurt, authorities said.
Authorities have not released any additional information about the Scott County crash at this time.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
When people read about a crash like the one in Bettendorf that left one person dead and seriously injured two others, the first question on most minds is, “How did this happen?” According to reports, a semi-truck pulled out from a business onto State Street amid heavy fog and collided with a pickup. That’s a start, but it’s far from the full story.
At this point, it’s not clear whether the truck driver failed to yield the right of way or whether limited visibility due to fog played a larger role. The report doesn’t say whether the pickup was approaching at highway speed, whether the truck was already in the road when the crash occurred or how much time either driver had to react. Those are all critical details, and without them, there’s no way to truly understand what happened.
Getting to the truth means looking beyond the scene itself. Was the truck equipped with a forward-facing dash cam or an in-cab camera that could show what the driver saw, or didn’t see? Did the truck’s engine control module (ECM), sometimes called the “black box,” record its speed and throttle data in the moments before the crash? These aren’t just bells and whistles. They’re vital tools that can help establish whether the driver acted reasonably under the circumstances or made a preventable error in judgment.
And what about the trucking company’s role? It’s fair to ask whether they trained the driver to operate safely in low-visibility conditions. Did their policies instruct drivers to wait out heavy fog, or were there pressures to stick to a schedule no matter what? I’ve worked cases where the real problem wasn’t just what the driver did, but the decisions the company made long before the crash happened. One case that comes to mind involved a driver who had been fired from multiple previous jobs and was still hired with barely any vetting, because the company prioritized getting someone behind the wheel over making sure that person was actually qualified.
Whether something like that happened here, we don’t yet know. But someone will need to ask those questions—and more importantly, gather the documents and records that can answer them.
Key Takeaways:
- It’s unclear whether the truck pulled out into oncoming traffic or whether the fog made it impossible to avoid the crash.
- Evidence like dash cam footage, ECM data and driver call records can help clarify what the truck driver was doing at the time.
- Investigators should examine the trucking company’s hiring and training policies to determine whether this crash could have been prevented.
- Responsibility in commercial truck crashes often goes beyond the driver and includes decisions made by the carrier.
- The full truth will only come out if someone conducts a thorough, independent investigation into all contributing factors.
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