One person died and another has been arrested after a tractor trailer smashed into a dozen cars in Elizabeth NJ.

New Jersey prosecutors stated that the truck driver- 57 year old Danny C. Burnam – was driving his tractor trailer erratically last Friday night. He first hit a car near 1st St. and Elizabeth Ave. at midnight. He then left the scene of the accident, and was pursued by a Union County NJ police officer.

The trucker continued to speed down the road where the police set up a barricade and they fired shots at the driver to get him to stop. The driver was wounded but he got through the barricade and slammed head on into another vehicle, killing the driver and injuring two others.

Investigators still do not know what caused the truck driver to act in such a manner, and the investigation is continuing.

Our View

Truckers have an obligation to drive their rigs carefully, given the huge size and weight of their vehicles. It also is an obligation that they carry with their commercial driver’s license. Our truck accident attorneys are disheartened that this driver apparently had such disregard for public safety that he killed one man and injured two others.

Our truck crash attorneys frequently represent the grieving families of victims lost to careless truck drivers. We sue the truck driver and his company in civil court and are able to often provide compensation to the deceased’s loved ones.

A few years ago, we represented a family who were rear ended by a careless and reckless truck driver at a stop light. The couple’s children were in the back seat. He slammed into their car at 40 mph and caused brain injuries to both children. The truck driver claimed that he passed out but he had no medical problems that could be discerned by the medical professionals who examined him.

The children will never be the same due to this trucker’s carelessness, but we were able to obtain a $5.5 million settlement so that the family can provide their children with the care they will need for many years.