1 Injured in Truck Accident on U.S. Route 74 in Whiteville, NC

Whiteville, NC — July 4, 2025, one person was injured in a truck accident on U.S Route 74 near the bridge for U.S. Route 701 Business.

Authorities said a semi-truck overturned after crashing into a guardrail and a bridge rail. It caught fire after the crash.

The driver, who said he fell asleep before the crash, was hospitalized with serious injuries after the crash, according to authorities. His name has not been made public yet.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Columbus County crash.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When a semi-truck crashes into a guardrail, hits a bridge structure, overturns, catches fire — and the driver later admits he fell asleep at the wheel — most people understandably jump straight to blaming the driver. But in my experience, that’s only the beginning of the story, not the end.

If the driver fell asleep, that raises a critical question: Why was he so tired in the first place? Was he driving beyond legal limits? Was he pushed to stay on the road by company pressure or unrealistic delivery deadlines? Did the company have a system in place to monitor hours of service, or were they turning a blind eye?

We don’t yet know what kind of truck this was, but most modern rigs are equipped with electronic logging devices (ELDs), engine control modules (ECMs) and often even in-cab cameras. Those tools can show whether the driver was speeding, braking suddenly, or drifting before the crash. They can also confirm whether his logs were accurate, or if he was operating under illegal conditions.

This is where the trucking company’s role comes under the microscope. Were they hiring drivers with a known history of fatigue violations? Did they conduct a proper vetting process before putting this person behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound vehicle? I’ve handled cases where companies hired drivers who had already been fired from multiple jobs, then put them through a 20-minute road test and called them “qualified.” If that kind of shortcut happened here, the company’s hands aren’t clean.

And while the crash is still under investigation, there are still plenty of unanswered questions. Was the truck carrying cargo that could have contributed to the severity of the crash? Was it improperly loaded, adding strain that made the truck harder to handle or more likely to roll? Depending on how the truck was configured and what it was carrying, that could be another piece of the puzzle.

The bottom line is that no one should assume they know the full story just because the driver said he nodded off. The truth about what happened, and why, can only come from a thorough investigation that pulls every thread: driver logs, company policies, truck data and training records. That’s how we move beyond guesswork and get real answers about who’s responsible.

Key Takeaways:

• A driver’s admission of falling asleep raises questions about company oversight, scheduling pressure and possible violations of rest rules.
• Black box data, in-cab cameras and ELD logs can clarify what was happening before the crash and whether the driver was being pushed too hard.
• The trucking company’s hiring and supervision practices must be scrutinized to determine if they contributed to putting a fatigued driver on the road.
• It’s not yet clear if cargo, maintenance issues or other factors played a role. Those are still unanswered questions that require investigation.
• Accountability in crashes like this isn’t just about one person; it’s about uncovering the chain of decisions that led to a preventable wreck.