Duty of Care

On Thursday, October 15, 2026, at about 11:55 a.m., Billy “BJ” Griffith Jr., 29, a Republic Services sanitation worker originally from Garrison, Texas, was killed when the sanitation truck he was driving and a Union Pacific train collided at a railroad crossing in southern Nacogdoches County, Texas, near U.S. Highway 59, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety as reported by the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel and The Lufkin Daily News. A justice of the peace pronounced him dead shortly after the crash.

A DPS spokesman, Sgt. Sammy Lattner, said Griffith was driving a 2025 Freightliner sanitation truck and was “stopped at the railroad crossing sign facing east while a Union Pacific train was traveling north on the railroad tracks.” The truck caught fire and came to rest in a ditch next to the tracks; Nacogdoches firefighters put out the fire, which spread into the wood line. The train stopped a little over a quarter mile from the crossing. Reports have not said how the crash happened. Republic Services said it was deeply saddened and that the safety of its employees is its top priority.

Work trucks that cross tracks many times a day face a hazard that is easy to get used to. The defenses to check are routes planned to limit crossings without gates or lights, clear sight lines at each crossing, stopping well back from the rails, a rule never to start across without room to clear completely, and schedules that do not push drivers to hurry.

• Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel
• The Lufkin Daily News