North Miami Landscaping Truck Crashes Into Bus Bench and Three Businesses on Northeast 125th Street, Two Injured

Gregg Hollander | October 26, 2026 | Accident News

On Friday, October 23rd, a landscaping truck allegedly lost control and hit a bus bench, a tree, and three businesses on Northeast 125th Street in North Miami. Two passengers in the truck were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, and the cause is under investigation. It’s reported the driver was cited for reckless driving.

If They Were Working, Workers’ Compensation Is Where It Starts

Based on reports, it appears that there was a crew on duty in the truck. However, whether those people count as employees depends on the actual working relationship. If they were employees, workers’ compensation typically covers medical care and a portion of lost wages without anyone having to prove who caused the crash. In exchange, an employer that carries the required coverage generally can’t be sued for negligence.

Two deadlines matter early. An injured worker has to tell the employer about the injury within 30 days, and missing that can bar the claim unless an exception applies, such as the employer already knowing about it. A petition for benefits generally has to be filed within two years.

The Driver Is a Coworker, and the Law Protects Coworkers Too

If the driver and passengers worked for the same company, the driver generally gets the same protection the employer does while acting in furtherance of the business. That protection falls away if the driver acted with willful and wanton disregard, with unprovoked physical aggression, or with gross negligence, or when the coworkers were assigned primarily to unrelated work, which wouldn’t usually describe members of the same crew. Gross negligence is a higher bar than carelessness. The reported citation doesn’t settle it, because a traffic citation can’t be used as evidence in a trial, and “lost control” doesn’t say why it happened. What the driver was actually doing in the moments before the crash would matter far more, and while a nearby business captured video of the truck hitting the bench and the storefronts, it isn’t reported whether that footage shows the lead-up.

Was Something Wrong With the Truck Itself?

The reports say the driver lost control, but not why. That could mean a driving mistake, a medical event, or a problem with the vehicle, such as the brakes, the steering, or the tires, and the difference matters a great deal. If the cause was the truck, the responsible party may be the company that made a defective part or the shop that serviced it, and those companies aren’t protected the way an employer and coworkers are. An injured worker can generally still pursue a third party like that, even while receiving workers’ compensation.

That’s why the truck’s maintenance history is one of the first things worth checking. It includes service and repair records, inspection reports, any earlier work on the brakes, steering, or tires, and any complaints from the crew about how the truck was handling. It also includes whether the truck has an open safety recall, which anyone can look up using the vehicle’s VIN. Records like these can show whether a problem was known and left alone, or whether a repair was done wrong, and they help separate a driver’s mistake from a mechanical cause.

Many of those records are held by the company or its repair shop, and the truck itself is evidence. Its brakes, tires, and steering can be inspected, but only if it hasn’t been repaired, sold, or scrapped first, so it’s worth making sure it’s preserved before anyone touches it.