3 Children Injured When Big Rig Hits Tractor Trailer

Three children were hurt after a tractor trailer hit an SUV in Liberty, North Carolina on March 19.

The North Carolina State Police stated that the tractor trailer crash happened at 11:30 pm at the intersection of Greensboro Street and Swannanoa Avenue. The SUV was hit by the tractor trailer, and the SUV overturned.

Sideswipe truck accident kills 1.
Sideswipe truck accident kills 1.

Police stated that charges likely will be filed against the truck driver, although he was not believed to have been impaired. There has not been a cause of the tractor trailer accident determined yet.

Our View

As tractor trailer accident attorneys licensed in North Carolina and Virginia, we hope that these three small children recover as quickly as possible from this serious accident.

When tractor trailers hit passenger vehicles, the occupants of the latter usually bear the brunt of the crash. Tractor trailers can weigh 30 times as much as a passenger car, truck or SUV. In the above crash, the severity of the collision, combined with the higher center of gravity of the SUV, caused the SUV to flip over.

Our truck crash injury attorneys have plenty of experience in dealing with the devastating consequences of careless truckers hitting passenger vehicles with children inside. Our personal injury attorneys represented a family whose small car was hit in the rear by a tractor trailer at a devastating 45 MPH. The rear of the small car accordioned into the rear passenger compartment, and the front seats slammed onto the heads of the children in the back of the car.

The truck driver stated that he was driving to several Virginia Beach restaurants. He said that he remembered turning onto the road where the truck crash happened, about 1/2 mile before the wreck. The next thing he said he remembereed was getting out of his rig after he had basically run over the car at a stop sign.

He claimed that he has passed out due to a sudden medical emergency. However, our personal injury truck crash attorneys showed that the truck driver did not show any signs of a medical condition or a sudden medical emergency. Our research into the accident showed it was most likely he had fallen asleep while driving.

Both children suffered serious head trauma, and one of them had worse injuries than the other. While both did survive, both children need ongoing medical care to deal with their truck accident head injuries. We are relieved that we were able to win a $5.5 million truck crash settlement in this case. But our attorneys would like to remind truck drivers to make sure they get enough rest before driving.