Grayson County, TX — November 22, 2023, Zachry Sutherland was killed following an 18-wheeler accident at around 12:50 p.m. along U.S. Highway 75.
Authorities said in their statements that the accident took place along U.S. 75 near East Pecan Grove Road.
According to officials, 18-year-old Zachry Sutherland was doing mechanical work on an 18-wheeler which was stopped along the side of the service road near the Cracker Barrel off Pecan Grove. After repairs were complete, the truck driver got in the truck and released the clutch. However, Sutherland apparently was trying to get a jack left under the truck, and was struck by the truck’s trailer. As a result, Sutherland sustained fatal injuries.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
It’s likely that many people will read about this horrible event, think to themselves what a terrible tragedy it is, and never think of it again. That would be a mistake. The fact is that a young man is dead and there aren’t a lot of good answers for why it happened. To further complicate matters the facts as currently known potentially concern multiple areas of the law from negligence to workplace fatality law.
Anytime a person dies on the job, no matter how obvious the cause appears to be, it’s important for qualified investigators to comb over every bit of evidence as to what happened. As a community, it’s the least we owe to the deceased. Depending on what that investigation turns up, various sections of Texas workplace fatality law could come into play. The bad news for a deceased worker’s loved ones is that Texas workplace fatality law is without a doubt the most complicated workplace death law in the country. That’s because determining which set of rules apply to a particular incident is a task unto itself. A worker’s death could be governed workers’ compensation law, non-subscriber case law, or even the Texas Constitution. Knowing which area applies when is highly fact specific and it’s not something that a person can determine with a Google-search.
If that’s not enough, it’s important to gather and preserve evidence from the broken down truck. There’s no indication from what we know about this incident to suggest the truck driver did anything wrong, but at the same time, the public record is incomplete. It’s usually best for everyone involved in an incident for all the blanks to be filled in.
I mention all of this not to pour salt in anyone’s wounds or to toss out unfounded allegations, but because a young man passed before his time and it’s important to his family and the public to have a clear picture of what happened. Based upon what’s currently known about the crash, it’s not clear that we have that picture.
call us 
Email Us 
Text us