Earlier this year, a family suffered one of the worst tragedies in life when a semi slammed into a car on I-465 in Indianapolis, killing a 29-year old mother and her 18-month-old twins.
The horrific accident happened around noon on an otherwise beautiful sunny summer day in a construction zone near Keystone Avenue.
Witnesses said a semi-truck didn’t see the traffic stopped in front of him, and he plowed into a line of cars at a “high rate of speed.”
According to several news accounts, witnesses told investigators that the semi driver failed to see the traffic stopped on the interstate and plowed into the stopped traffic. When the driver of the semi hit the first car — with the Koons family inside — it burst into flames. The truck then hit two other cars, overturned a Chevy truck with a trailer, pinned a fourth car against the shoulder barrier, dragging it about 300 yards and hit two more cars before stopping
Officers arrested 57-year-old Bruce Pollard and charged him with three counts of reckless homicide and five counts of criminal recklessness causing injury. Pollard was driving for Weston Transportation out of Missouri.
Department of Transportation records show that company has had six unsafe driving violations since 2017—two for following too close, two for lane restriction violations, one for speeding, and one for unlawfully parking and/or leaving vehicle in the roadway. The company owns 23 trucks and has 20 drivers.
This is a classic case of what can happen when a big truck — weighing 20 times that of a passenger car – hits a vehicle, especially at high speeds. The vast majority of victims are those in the car the truck collides with.
You can be the safest driver in the world, but when a big semi-trailer truck comes out of nowhere and strikes your car, you hardly have a chance.
Between 2014 and 2016, a total of 12,319 persons died in crashes involving large trucks in the United States, according to the most recent Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) statistics.
At Theodoros & Rooth, we have seen too many of these tragedies and have represented too many of the victims. Our lawyers have great empathy for the families involved in this latest fatal crash, and for all those victimized in other incidents on our roads and highways. If we can help you or a loved one that has been involved in a big truck crash, call us immediately. We will aggressively represent you, without charge, until the case is resolved.
Photo courtesy INDOT