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Milano, Texas — On March 31, 2025, a devastating 18-wheeler crash claimed the lives of 16-year-old student-athlete Connor McCaffety and his parents, Clint and Meghan McCaffety, as they returned home from a high school golf tournament in Brenham.
The family’s Ford sedan had come to a stop behind a flagger in a construction zone crash on Highway 36 when a Freightliner truck, driven by a 26-year-old male from Bellmead, Texas, failed to slow down and slammed into the stopped vehicles.
The crash killed all three McCaffetys and sent another vehicle, a Kia SUV, into a ditch. The SUV’s driver was hospitalized. The commercial truck driver has not been charged, and an investigation remains underway.
Connor McCaffety, a junior at Rogers High School and a rising star in baseball and golf, was remembered by coaches and friends as kind, driven, and team-oriented. The Rogers Independent School District and his baseball team, GPS Legends, expressed heartbreak at the loss.
The McCaffetys are survived by 14-year-old Kelsey, Connor’s younger sister, who was not in the vehicle. She now faces an unimaginable future without her parents or brother.
Based on initial reports, the McCaffety family bears no liability for this crash—they were lawfully stopped as directed in a work zone when they were fatally struck from behind.
Truck Driver Negligence
The truck driver’s failure to control speed in a construction zone where vehicles were visibly stopped is a likely basis for negligence. Truck drivers must exercise heightened caution in these areas, where stopping is often sudden, and visibility is reduced.
Potential contributing factors under investigation include:
The trucking company may be held responsible under theories of trucking company liability or negligent hiring and supervision. If the company allowed an improperly trained or overworked driver to operate the vehicle, or if the truck itself had mechanical defects such as worn brakes, the company could face direct liability.
The highway construction or repair entity may also bear some responsibility for if traffic control measures were improperly set up or not enough measures were employed to prevent a truck accident such as this one. This includes:
According to FMCSA, nearly 5,000 fatal truck crashes occurred nationwide in 2023. Rear-end collisions are one of the most frequent and deadly crash types, especially when involving fully loaded 18-wheelers traveling at highway speed. These vehicles require much longer stopping distances and pose severe risks when drivers fail to pay attention, speeding, being fatigued, texting or failing to respond appropriately to road hazards they are faced with on the open road.
The crash that claimed the McCaffety family is not just a tragedy—it represents a failure of multiple systems meant to protect innocent people. From commercial driving safety to construction zone protocols, every link in the chain must function correctly to prevent such horrific outcomes.
NOTE: This truck accident analysis is based on the preliminary facts only, and is provided by Texas truck accident lawyer David Willis. Once the official accident reports and investigation are concluded, further or different legal conclusions may be drawn. Willis has been a Board-Certified Personal Injury Trial Lawyer since 1988, a Former Supreme Court of Texas Attorney and has been practicing personal injury litigation for over four decades.
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