Ruoyang He Killed in Truck Accident in Frisco, TX

Collin County, TX — March 26, 2024, Ruoyang He was killed following a truck accident at approximately 8:00 a.m. along U.S. Highway 380.

According to authorities, 28-year-old Ruoyang He was occupying an eastbound Ford Mustang which was disabled with its hazard lights activated in the right-most lane due to a flat tire in the vicinity west of Dallas Parkway when the accident took place.

Officials indicate that, for reasons yet to be confirmed, the Mustang was rear-ended by an eastbound 18-wheeler with a flatbed trailer in tow. The collision caused the Mustang to be pushed off of the right side of the roadway. The 18-wheeler veered left across all of the eastbound lanes of the highway and came to a stop in the center median with the back of the trailer partially blocking the left-most lane.

Ruoyang He incurred reportedly critical injuries as a result of the wreck and was transported to a local medical facility in order to receive immediate treatment. However, he was ultimately unable to overcome the severity of his injuries, having later been declared deceased.

Additional details pertaining to this incident are not available at this point in time. The investigation is currently ongoing.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

Like a lot of you, I’m curious how someone hits a disabled vehicle during morning rush hour. If you’re like me, the most obvious explanation for these events is distracted driving. With that being said, that theory doesn’t appear anywhere in the information that’s available about this crash. In fact, the only thing I’ve seen some people say is that the truck driver may have been dealing with glare from the sun prior to the crash. Hearing this sets off my spidey-senses. This is because in my three decades of litigating truck accident cases, I’ve heard every weather-related excuse imaginable for why someone wasn’t to blame for an accident.

Presumably, other vehicles were able to avoid the disabled vehicle, in spite of the sun shining down on them. So why would the driver claim to be blinded by the sun to the point that he couldn’t avoid the stopped vehicle?

This is just speculation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone at the driver’s trucking company, perhaps even an attorney, suggested that the driver emphasize this part of the story. The reason to focus on a weather condition as the “real cause” of the crash is because it allows the company’s attorneys to attempt to use the act of God defense. This is a legal doctrine that absolves someone of fault for a crash when some event beyond their control caused the collision. For instance, if a tornado blew across the road and threw the truck into another vehicle, it would be unjust to hold the driver accountable for any damage caused by something beyond his control.

Where I think an act of God argument rings hollow in these circumstances is that we’re dealing with sun glare. Unlike an unpredictable event, like a tornado, every driver on the road knows that they’re heading due east in the morning, they’re going to have to deal with the sun shining in their face. That’s a given, not a sudden unexpected weather change.

It’s just my two cents, but I foresee two possibilities. Perhaps, the trucking company made a quick assessment of the circumstances that led to this crash and figured that sun glare was the only defense they could hang their hat on, the only way to avoid accountability for their driver’s actions. Another possibility is that they concocted a flimsy excuse to avoid further scrutiny for even more dangerous behavior. I’ve seen that strategy first-hand. A driver, at the instruction of his company, tells one story, but then my team obtains his cell phone records, GPS monitoring, in-cab video footage, and other evidence that tell a completely different and much worse story.

To be fair, I can only go on the evidence that authorities have made public so far and it looks like their investigation isn’t over. My hope is they take the time to obtain some of the evidence I’ve mentioned and it adds up to a story that allows the victim’s family to have closure, because from where I sit, something just doesn’t add up about this crash.