KILGORE, Texas (KLTV) – A person died on April 18 after falling out of a pickup truck and being hit by a Kilgore police car that was responding to the scene.
According to a DPS report, the victim, Anthony Merritt, had just come from a bar and had been drinking.
Kilgore police released details on the incident on Tuesday, after initially withholding information at the request of Merritt’s family.
Merritt was riding in the back of a truck when he fell out, according to a Kilgore Police Department release citing a DPS report.
A Kilgore police officer then responded to an automatic cellphone crash alert just before 1:30 a.m., reporting labored breathing could be heard through the phone.
The responding officer did not see Merritt, who was lying in the northbound lane and wearing dark clothes, until “the last second”, the release states. The officer swerved but struck Merritt with the undercarriage of the car.
The impact moved Merritt to the outside lane and the officer turned around and stopped. Merritt died at the scene.
While investigators were at the scene, and over an hour after the 911 call, a man arrived and said he had been driving Merritt home when he realized he was no longer in the truck bed.
Police say the man showed several signs of intoxication and voluntarily underwent sobriety tests. He was not arrested at the scene as the department waits for blood results, according to a Kilgore Police Department release.
The Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers are investigating the fatal crash at the request of the police department, according to the release.
“There will be no further comment from the Kilgore Police Department regarding this matter until the investigation is completed,” the release states.
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