CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — A woman is believed to be paralyzed following a cement truck accident that was reported in Corpus Christi, Texas on Tuesday, July 1st, 2014, according to the news article released by KZTV 10.
Police familiar with details of the accident believe Melinda Herrera was seriously injured when a cement truck is believed to have crashed for reasons currently under investigation while driving on South Padre Island Drive near the intersection with Everhart Road. The cement truck struck a number of cars and a concrete divider while driving in the westbound lanes.
Scene of the Accident
Melinda Herrera was seriously injured in the crash and was taken to a hospital along with seven other people.
It is not immediately clear what may have caused the accident, but representatives from the Texas Department of Transportation is currently handling the accident investigation.
Commentary:
Just based on the facts I see reported in a few news sources floating around, I’d be willing to venture that this accident is going to fall one of two ways. On the one hand, this driver could have been very much in the wrong if he was not paying attention to the road. Just a few days ago I saw a news segment on how many more devices truckers use on the road than your average driver. Most passenger cars have a radio and a cell phone, whereas truckers have GPS, radios, cell phones, TV’s, and other gadgets. Needless to say, when combined with an eighty thousand pound truck, things can be disastrous. A trained investigator can take one look at these gadgets to see if they were being used at the time of the accident, which could put the trucking company squarely in the cross hairs of liability related questions.
On the other hand, the driver of the truck could have been doing exactly what he was supposed to do, but when they pressed on the brake pedal, nothing happened. If either the brakes or steering failed in any way, the trucking company could be liable for allowing their truck to fall into disrepair which caused an accident. This is common when a vehicle leaves the road and strikes a number of objects in a relatively straight line, it tells us the the truck was simply incapable of stopping. If you allowed your car to fall into disrepair and caused an accident, you would be responsible, why should a trucking company be any different?
–Grossman Law Offices
