Marshall, TX — October 7, 2025, three people were injured in a truck accident at about 7:20 a.m. on U.S. Route 59/East End Boulevard North.
A preliminary accident report indicates that a southbound 2022 Volvo semi-truck crashed into a 2019 Chevrolet Traverse that was stopped for traffic control near Poplar Street. The impact started a chain reaction that also damaged a 2025 Ford F-150, a police SUV and a 2014 Dodge Durango.
Two passengers in the Chevrolet, a 15-year-old girl and an 8-year-old girl, and the 37-year-old man driving the Ford pickup were seriously injured in the crash, according to the report.
The Chevrolet driver, the Dodge driver and two police officers suffered minor injuries, the report states.
The truck driver, who was listed as possibly injured, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after the crash, according to the report. He also was cited for speeding.
Authorities have not released any additional information about the Harrison County crash at this time.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
When people hear that a semi-truck rear-ended a line of vehicles already stopped in traffic, their first question is usually, “How does something like that even happen?” That’s exactly the right question to ask, and one that the authorities’ report doesn’t fully answer yet.
From what’s been reported, a Volvo 18-wheeler hit the back of a stopped Chevrolet Traverse, kicking off a chain reaction that damaged at least four other vehicles and seriously injured three people. The truck driver has already been cited for speeding and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; strong charges, to be sure, but they still don’t explain why he plowed into a line of cars.
It’s not clear whether the driver was distracted, impaired, fatigued or simply following too closely. Each possibility raises different legal questions and points to different kinds of evidence. Was he on the phone? Was he reaching for something? Was he dealing with a mechanical failure? Until someone pulls the truck’s engine control module data (its “black box”), checks any in-cab video and obtains the driver’s phone records, we’re all just guessing. And that’s not good enough when lives are on the line.
The serious nature of the injuries, and the fact that a police vehicle was among those struck, suggest the truck driver was traveling at a significant speed. But even if he was speeding, that alone doesn’t tell us everything we need to know. Was he running behind on a delivery? Did his company pressure him to meet an unrealistic schedule? Or was he just driving recklessly on his own?
It’s worth asking what hiring and training practices were in place at the company that put this driver on the road. I’ve handled cases where the root cause wasn’t just a bad driver. It was a company that hired someone they shouldn’t have, or failed to give them even basic training. Sometimes it takes a crash like this for those failures to come to light.
And while charges have been filed, it’s important to understand that criminal proceedings don’t always uncover the full story. That usually falls to civil investigations, which can compel companies to turn over internal records, policies, training materials and much more.
At this point, what we don’t know is just as important as what we do. We don’t yet know what the truck driver was doing right before the crash. We don’t know what kind of safety systems, if any, were in place in the truck. And we don’t know what steps the trucking company took, or failed to take, to prevent something like this from happening.
Key Takeaways:
- It’s not yet clear why the truck driver hit stopped traffic. Speeding is only part of the story.
- Critical evidence like black box data, in-cab video and phone records will be essential to understanding what happened.
- The trucking company’s hiring, training and oversight practices may have contributed and should be investigated.
- Civil investigations often reveal more than criminal charges alone, especially regarding company responsibility.
- Getting to the truth requires looking beyond the crash scene to the decisions and systems that led up to it.
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