Lubbock, TX — July 5, 2024, Kevin Ortiz sustained fatal injuries as the result of a semi-truck accident at around 5:00 a.m. on U.S. Highway 84.
Initial reports on the crash say that it happened in the area of U.S. 84 and County Road 1400, in the area of Shallowater.
According to officials, 64-year-old Kevin Ortiz was in a Hyundai Accent that was going southbound along the highway. From the northbound lanes, it appears a Kenworth tractor-trailer “veered” across the median into oncoming lanes. As a result, the tractor-trailer crashed with Ortiz’s vehicle. Kevin Ortiz was killed as a result.
Right now, additional details about the crash are still under investigation.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
While the cause can’t be confirmed right now, crashes like this are often due to the truck driver making a mistake. It’s possible the crash was unavoidable, due to something like a tire blowout or a medical emergency. I’d never suggest ignoring that possibility. But even in the more likely event that a mistake led to this crash, it’s important to know why that mistake happened. This all may have been the inevitable result of multiple people failing in their responsibilities.
Here’s what I mean by that. I’ve handled hundreds of commercial vehicle accident cases over the years. People don’t realize how often something like this involves a negligent employer creating conditions that lead to their drivers making reckless decisions. For example, a lot of companies want their drivers to meet unreasonable deadlines. This can mean either rewarding drivers who cut corners or punishing drivers that fail to meet expectations, regardless of the fact they were doing so for safety reasons. This leads to drivers being fatigued, messing with electronics when unsafe, speeding, making dangerous maneuvers, and otherwise taking risks to appease their employers.
If behavior like that leads to a deadly wreck, putting all of the blame a single driver doesn’t address the problem. Sure, a driver skipping breaks or speeding is responsible for their actions, but if there’s an employer fostering that behavior, shouldn’t they also face consequences? Especially considering they’d likely continue putting the public in danger until someone sets them straight, shouldn’t all responsible parties be held accountable for their role in a deadly crash? Simply put, I can’t recall a single one of the hundreds of families I’ve worked with who would have been satisfied just pinning the blame on some “bad guy.” What families want is to see accountability for the harm put upon them and their loved ones. Finding out both what and why a crash like this occurred is a vital step to seeing that happen.
