Westbrook, CT — September 5, 2025, injuries were reported following a loose truck cargo accident at around 7:45 a.m. along I-95.
Preliminary details about the accident say that it happened across both lanes of travel in the area of the Horse Hill Road intersection.
According to officials, a tractor-trailer was going along the interstate hauling plywood. For reasons not clear right now, the cargo came loose and fell onto both directions of travel. This resulted in multiple crashes, and authorities say serious injuries have been reported.
At this time, additional details about the crash are unavailable.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
With crashes involving cargo flying into the roadway, things are rarely as simple as just blaming the driver hauling that cargo. For one, it’s possible this is an unusual situation the truck driver couldn’t avoid. Even if it was avoidable, though, there are often multiple possible points of failure that need to be thoroughly investigated. This is to ensure not only the right people are held accountable but also to help prevent future accidents.
Let me give an example of how multiple different parties can be responsible for a cargo-related crash like this. We had a case a while back involving a car that hit an improperly loaded steel slab, killing the driver of the car. The fault of the truck driver was clear, but our investigations definitively showed the accountability extended beyond that driver.
It was true that the driver knew the cargo was loaded improperly and drove with it anyway. However, it was a different business that loaded the cargo in the first place. That business knew the slab was too big for the trailer, but they just wanted to get the shipment done and wouldn’t take no for an answer. The truck driver also making a mistake didn’t just erase there’s. They made a mistake, too, so they were also held responsible.
That brought in the truck driver’s employer. The driver knew his employer also wouldn’t accept excuses for not picking up and delivering a load. The employer created an environment where drivers knew if they prioritized safety over productivity, their jobs were not secure. So, pressured to appease his employer, the driver ignored the risk and transported the dangerous cargo. As a result, someone was killed.
That’s why investigations into a crash like this have to extend beyond the crash scene. It could be that this was some sudden, unavoidable accident due to something like an equipment failure. It could be a single driver failed to notice loose straps or other red flags that suggested this would happen. Or, there may have been multiple eyes that looked over this cargo and either missed obvious red flags or outright ignored them.
Ultimately, that’s up to the evidence to say. To make sure there’s appropriate accountability, investigators have to be thorough and make sure they retrace this cargo’s path all the way back to the failures that allowed this accident to happen. Again—it’s not just about seeing accountability for the harm done to the victims. It’s also about ensuring others aren’t harmed in the future.
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