Melon Spill and Trash Fire Shut Down 5 Freeway in California

If you drove on the 5 Freeway between Boyle Heights and Tustin on July 21, 2025, you probably sat in traffic much longer than usual.

A large 18-wheeler travelling through Boyle Heights overturned on the transition road, spilling its load of melons all over the highway. California Highway Patrol officers quickly contained a diesel spill without calling a hazmat response team.

Meanwhile, in the Tustin area, a garbage truck apparently lost its load, which caught on fire on the northbound 5 Freeway at Fourth Street. The incident happened in the middle of the 5 Freeway near the 55 Freeway.

Investigators have yet to determine a cause for either crash.

Large Vehicle Crashes

Semi-trucks, garbage trucks, and other such vehicles weren’t designed for crowded highway traffic. Semi-trucks operate best on the open road and garbage trucks usually stick to side streets. When these vehicle drivers are out of their element, serious wrecks are almost inevitable.

Driver error causes most large vehicle crashes. Commercial drivers’ errors are usually negligence, or a lack of care. California law holds semi-truck drivers, garbage truck drivers, and other commercial operators to a higher standard.

Driving at night in traffic, which was the case with the aforementioned semi-truck wreck, is a good example. Most commercial drivers can safely operate vehicles either at night or in traffic. But both adverse conditions together are too much.

If negligence causes injury, a Personal Injury Attorney in California can obtain compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Additional punitive damages are available as well, in some extreme cases.

Third Party Liability

Usually, commercial operators are legally responsible for the wrecks they cause. The company or other entity that owned the vehicle is usually responsible for the financial costs of these wrecks.

California law includes a broad respondeat superior law which applies to most commercial vehicle collisions. Employers are financially responsible for damages if:

• Negligent Employee: We discussed large vehicle driver negligence above. Most commercial drivers, even if they’re owner-operators or independent contractors for most purposes, are employees for negligence purposes.
• Scope of Employment: Usually, any act that benefits the employer in any way, as well as the fallout from that act, is within the scope of employment. Causing a fireball crash is not in a sanitation worker’s job description. But such a wreck is a foreseeable (possible) consequence of driving on a freeway.

These actions are normally quite complex. Out-of-state holding companies usually own the cargo inside a semi-truck and special procedural rules apply to actions against municipalities and other government entities.

Get Legal Help After a Commercial Vehicle Accident

Commercial vehicle wrecks are devastating in every sense of the word. For a free consultation with an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney, contact the Law Offices of Eslamboly Hakim. We routinely handle matters throughout the Golden State.

Credit: Photo by Midjourney