Casandra Welch Killed in an Accident with a Semi-Truck at the Intersection of U.S. Highway 59 and Interstate 49 North of Texarkana, Texas

BOWIE COUNTY, Texas — Two people were killed, and three others were injured Thursday afternoon in a collision involving a tractor-trailer at the intersection of U.S. Highway 59 and Interstate 49.

According to authorities, a Volvo tractor-trailer was traveling on Interstate 49 and attempted to cross the northbound lanes of U.S. Highway 59 to turn south when the truck failed to yield the right of way and collided with a northbound Volkswagen SUV.

The SUV’s driver, 32-year-old Casandra Welch of Ashdown, Arkansas, and a front-seat passenger were pronounced dead at the scene.

Three other passengers riding in the rear of the SUV were transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Families Deserve Justice After Fatal Semi-Truck Crashes

Tragic incidents like this remind us why semi-trucks must follow safety rules on the road at all times. Obeying simple safety rules can be the difference between life, injury, and death, especially when a commercial vehicle is involved. When caution is ignored, someone will pay the price. Sadly, this is what seems to have happened here.

Over years of handling similar cases, we have seen that crashes like this are often tied to earlier safety failures — failures to monitor speed, enforce rules, or address unsafe driving. But uncovering those details means looking beyond the police report.

We recently represented a family who went through a similar tragedy as what happened here. In that incident, a cement truck failed to yield at an intersection, colliding with a passenger vehicle carrying a couple on their way to dinner. What should have been an ordinary evening out to eat ended in tragedy, with the husband losing his life and his wife left fighting for hers after the force of the impact.

After conducting our own investigation, we found that this tragedy was entirely preventable. The trucking company failed to train and supervise its driver properly, allowing unsafe driving behaviors to continue unchecked.

The trucking company and the driver tried to shift and minimize blame. Still, we fought for the shattered family, where a wife was left with lingering injuries that required rehabilitation appointments and the loss of her husband, who was her best friend and companion.

The Welch family now faces its own unimaginable loss. Two loved ones were taken in an instant after a semi-truck allegedly failed to yield the right of way while crossing U.S. Highway 59. They deserve answers. They deserve to know why this crash happened, whether it could have been prevented, and who else contributed through their actions or failures. They also deserve accountability that goes beyond the police report.

May the Welch family find the answers they need and the justice they deserve.