Tracy Morgan: Accident, Settlement, Health, and Net Worth

What accident did Tracy Morgan get into?

The 2014 Truck Crash

• On June 7, 2014, Morgan was in a limo van on the New Jersey Turnpike when a Walmart tractor-trailer rear-ended it, killing his friend and opening act James McNair (BBC News report).
• The crash happened as he was returning from a comedy performance, and it immediately turned into a legal case against Walmart (The Guardian).

The force of the collision did not just end the tour; it put Morgan’s comedy career on an indefinite medical pause.

Injuries Sustained

• The injury list in the key facts table above includes a broken leg, broken ribs, and a traumatic brain injury.
• TIME described the crash as causing a severe brain injury (TIME’s report).

The severity of those injuries meant Morgan could not simply “walk it off”; he needed a full medical rebuild before he could even think about a stage.

Aftermath and Coma

ABC News reported that when Morgan emerged from the coma he was blind for a week, and that he later spent five months in a wheelchair while undergoing therapy for his brain and body (ABC News interview).

The implication: the crash did not just interrupt a tour; it rewired the way Morgan had to approach his own body and schedule.

What condition does Tracy Morgan have?

Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes

• Tracy Morgan has been open about living with type 2 diabetes (Wikipedia biography).
• Diabetes affects how his body regulates blood sugar, and it adds a second layer to the physical recovery from the crash.

Diabetic Neuropathy

• Morgan has connected some of his mobility problems to diabetic neuropathy, a nerve condition that can cause pain, numbness, and balance issues.
• During recovery, TIME observed him walking with a cane, a sign that his injuries and his diabetes were pulling at the same thread (TIME’s report).

Ongoing Health Struggles

• The accident left him with long-term physical limitations, and he has been candid about the fact that the cane is not a prop.
• His public appearances have shown that the crash still affects his energy and his balance years later.

What this means: Morgan’s health story has two chapters — the sudden trauma of 2014 and the slower, chronic management of diabetes that makes every recovery harder.

What happened to the driver who hit Tracy Morgan?

Driver Kevin Roper

• The Walmart driver was Kevin Roper, and he lost his bid to dismiss the civil lawsuit in February 2015, according to CBS News New York.
• That ruling kept Roper inside the legal case even as the civil action expanded toward Walmart.

Legal Consequences

• Roper’s criminal case ran separately from Morgan’s civil lawsuit, and its details were not part of the public settlement announcement.
• The most visible legal consequence for Roper was the February 2015 decision against him in federal court.

Walmart’s Liability

• Walmart settled with Morgan in May 2015, as shown in the key facts table above.
• Morgan’s lawyer Benedict Morelli said Walmart took full responsibility for the accident (BBC News report).

The pattern: Walmart absorbed the legal weight, the driver faded from the headline, and the settlement closed the door on a public reckoning.

How much money did Tracy Morgan get from his crash?

Lawsuit Against Walmart

• Morgan sued Walmart in July 2014, seeking punitive and compensatory damages (The Guardian).
• The lawsuit argued that Walmart was responsible for the crash because its driver was on the job.

Settlement Amount

• Walmart and Morgan settled in May 2015 (Variety).
• The $90 million figure was widely reported, but CBS News noted that Morgan’s lawyers would not confirm whether the settlement was higher or lower (CBS News report).
• A law-firm article claimed Walmart insurers paid an estimated $90 million, but the number is not backed by court records or primary reporting (Wilson Law).

Impact on Net Worth

• No official net worth figure was published after the settlement; estimates are projections, not documents.
• His comeback role in “The Last OG” (2017–2020) showed the accident did not end his career.

The trade-off: the public wanted a number, but the only confirmed number was the one nobody got to see.

Did Tracy Morgan’s first wife pass away?

Marriage to Sabrina Morgan

• Tracy Morgan married Sabrina Morgan in 1995 and they had three children together; she died of a heart attack in December 2013 (Wikipedia biography).

Her Death in 2013

• The death came only six months before the truck crash, leaving Morgan to process two shocks in a very short span.

Tracy’s Later Relationships

• Through the settlement and comeback years, Morgan kept his romantic life more private; his three children from his first marriage remained the public center of his family story.

What this means: the accident was not Morgan’s only loss in that period — 2013 took his wife, and 2014 nearly took his life.

Key Dates in Tracy Morgan’s Story

• November 10, 1968: Born in Brooklyn, New York.
• 1996–2003: Cast member on Saturday Night Live.
• 2006–2013: Stars as Tracy Jordan on 30 Rock.
• December 2013: First wife Sabrina Morgan dies.
• June 7, 2014: Crash on the New Jersey Turnpike.
• July 2014: Morgan sues Walmart.
• May 2015: Settlement reached with Walmart.
• 2017–2020: Stars in “The Last OG” on TBS.

The pattern across those dates: the crash split Morgan’s biography into before and after, but the after kept moving.

What’s Confirmed, What’s Still Unclear

In Their Own Words

“Walmart took full responsibility for the accident.”

Benedict Morelli, Morgan’s lawyer, in a statement reported by BBC News

“I’m not a victim, I’m a survivor.”

Tracy Morgan, from the documentary “Tracy Morgan: Back to Life”

Where the Story Stands

Because Walmart chose to settle privately, Tracy Morgan’s recovery became a public story about a private number. He returned to television, kept working, and let his family re-center his life, but the physical cost never fully left the stage. For any young comedian building a career on nonstop touring, the decision is clear: build a body of work that can survive an absence, or risk losing the stage to one bad night. If you’re following other performers who rebuilt after trauma, Richard Pryor: Death, Fire, Children, and Net Worth and Amanda Redman: Burn Survivor, Actress, and New Tricks Star trace similar lines between survival and a second act.

Frequently Asked Questions