Fort Worth, TX — December 11, 2025, one person was injured in a truck accident at about 6:15 a.m. on Interstate 35W/North Freeway.
A preliminary accident report indicates that a southbound 2020 Freightliner semi-truck collided with three other vehicles near the West Fork Trinity River.
The driver of a 2006 Chrysler Pacifica, a 36-year-old Burleson man, was seriously injured in the crash, according to the report. His name has not been made public yet.
The woman driving a 2020 Hyundai Sonata was listed as possibly injured, the report states, while the woman driving a 2016 Nissan Rogue was not hurt.
The truck driver, who was not injured, was cited for speeding after the crash, according to the report.
Authorities have not released any additional information about the Tarrant County crash at this time.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
When a truck crashes into multiple vehicles during the early morning rush, like what’s been reported on I-35W in Fort Worth, people naturally wonder: How could a professional driver lose control like that? Especially when the crash sends someone to the hospital with serious injuries. The truck driver in this case was reportedly cited for speeding, which is a start, but it raises more questions than it answers.
A speeding ticket tells us that the trucker was going too fast, but we still don’t know how fast, or for how long. Was the driver simply a few miles per hour over the limit, or flying past other vehicles like he had a deadline to beat? Was he following too closely, or making erratic lane changes? These are details that don’t show up in a brief report but are often critical to understanding what really happened.
That’s why it’s so important to look beyond the citation and get access to the truck’s electronic control module (ECM), sometimes called the “black box.” This device can show exactly how fast the truck was going, whether the brakes were used and even how long the driver had been on the road. If there’s an in-cab camera, that can tell us if the driver was distracted, dozing off or dealing with an unexpected road hazard. And cell phone records may shed light on whether the driver was texting or on a call at the time of the crash.
We also don’t yet know whether traffic was backed up in that area or whether weather played a role. Depending on whether the truck was slowing down, changing lanes or already out of control when it hit the first vehicle, different legal questions come into play.
And we shouldn’t ignore the trucking company’s role here. One of the first things I want to know in a crash like this is: Who hired this driver, and how was he trained? In one case I handled, a driver with a history of job terminations was hired after a 20-minute road test, daytime only. When her company sent her out at night in bad weather, they set her up to fail. That kind of poor decision-making from employers isn’t unusual, and when it happens, they should be held accountable right alongside the driver.
At this point, the public only knows one piece of the puzzle, that the trucker was cited for speeding. But if this is going to lead to real accountability, then someone needs to pull together every available piece of evidence and see what story it tells. That’s how we find out what went wrong and who needs to answer for it.
Key Takeaways:
- A speeding citation alone doesn’t explain how or why the crash occurred.
- Black box data, in-cab cameras and cell phone records are critical to uncovering the truth.
- We don’t yet know the truck’s speed, lane position or whether traffic conditions were a factor.
- A full investigation should also examine the driver’s training and the trucking company’s hiring practices.
- Holding the right people accountable depends on gathering all the evidence, not just what’s in a police report.
