A 59-year-old Lake Charles man died after a dump truck failed to yield at a stop sign and slammed into the box truck he was driving at a rural Jeff Davis Parish intersection. Shannon Duplechain was seriously injured in the crash near Iowa, Louisiana, and later died at a nearby hospital, according to Louisiana State Police.
The crash happened shortly before 11:30 a.m. last Thursday at the intersection of U.S. 165 and Pinehill Cemetery Road, as reported by KADN News 15. A 2008 Freightliner dump truck was traveling east on Pinehill Cemetery Road when it entered the intersection after failing to yield at the stop sign, striking a 2022 Freightliner M2 box truck that was headed south on U.S. 165. Duplechain, who was driving the box truck, was wearing his seatbelt at the time of impact.
He was transported to a nearby hospital, where he later died. The dump truck driver suffered only minor injuries and was also wearing a seatbelt, per the outlet's report. The cause of the dump truck's failure to yield remains under investigation, and the crash itself is still being reviewed by troopers.
Blood Samples Collected Under Standard Fatal-Crash Protocol
State police collected blood samples from both drivers, with the samples submitted for analysis. That step is required under Louisiana law even though investigators say they do not currently suspect impairment played a role in the crash. Louisiana Revised Statutes § 32:681 mandates post-accident toxicology testing for alcohol and chemical substances for any surviving driver involved in a fatal collision, a protocol that applies regardless of whether officers initially suspect a driver was under the influence.
The failure-to-yield allegation against the dump truck driver also carries its own statutory weight. Under Louisiana Revised Statutes § 32:123, drivers approaching a stop-sign-controlled intersection must come to a complete stop and yield to any vehicle close enough to pose an immediate hazard. Whether any citations or formal charges will follow is likely to depend on the results of that toxicology screening and the conclusion of the full Louisiana State Police Troop D investigation.
A Detour Road Known for Heavy Traffic
Pinehill Cemetery Road is more than just a quiet side street. Traffic advisories from Louisiana State Police Troop D have identified it as a primary local detour route for U.S. 165 traffic whenever Interstate 10 experiences closures nearby, a pattern that has fed local concerns about vehicle speeds on the road. It remains an open question whether traffic volume, speed, or sightline conditions at the intersection played any role in the crash, and investigators have not yet said.
The Freightliner M2 box truck Duplechain was driving is a medium-to-heavy-duty commercial vehicle with a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of up to 66,000 pounds, built with heavy-frame structures and air braking systems designed for commercial freight work. Trucks of that size are common on the U.S. 165 corridor, which a MoneyGeek analysis of federal crash data has ranked among the ten deadliest road corridors in Louisiana.
Part of a Troubling Pattern for Troop D
This is not the only fatal crash Troop D has investigated in Jeff Davis Parish this year. In June, troopers investigated a fatality on U.S. Highway 90 near Farm Supply Road in which a 49-year-old pedestrian pushing a bicycle was struck and killed by a pickup truck. And in December 2025, troopers responded to a fatal two-vehicle collision on Interstate 10 in the parish involving a pickup towing a camper and a 2020 Peterbilt commercial truck.
The crash also echoes a similar tragedy covered by Hoodline earlier this month, when a Texas woman died in a multi-truck crash near Scott. That report cited data from LSU's Center for Analytics & Research in Transportation Safety showing 31,817 commercial motor vehicle crashes across Louisiana in 2024, with busy intersections identified as primary risk locations. The same data set found that Louisiana recorded 708 fatal traffic crashes and 744 total fatalities statewide in 2025.
Behavioral factors continue to dominate the state's fatal-crash statistics more broadly. Louisiana Highway Safety Commission data cited by the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office found that roughly 84% of non-pedestrian fatal crashes in Louisiana in 2022 were attributed to driver impairment, distraction, unbelted occupants, or aggressive driving. Whether any of those factors contributed to Thursday's crash on Pinehill Cemetery Road has not yet been determined, and Louisiana State Police have not released further updates as the investigation continues.
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