Posted 10:05 pm Tuesday, January 29, 2013
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Gilmer DPS officers seeking hit-and-run driver
BY PHILLIP WILLIAMS
Special Correspondent
Special Correspondent
A Hallsville man died Sunday night after wrecking his motorcycle and then being run over by a pickup whose driver fled the scene in rural Upshur County, said investigating Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Brandon Love.
Officers were seeking a white pickup that ran over 35-year-old Maxwell Kyle Hardin as he laid in the roadway of Farm-to-Market Road 726 after wrecking the motorcycle in an accident that also injured his girlfriend, Love said.
Hardin died after being taken by ambulance to East Texas Medical Center-Gilmer, where Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace W.V. Ray pronounced him dead at 8:35 p.m., Love said.
Donna Rene Miller, of Hallsville, who was marking her 36th birthday, was taken by ambulance to Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview with possible head injuries, but was expected to recover, Love said. She and Hardin had left a birthday party at her home in Hallsville, the trooper said.
Authorities do not know whether it was the motorcycle crash, or the pickup that killed Hardin, Love said.
Officers were seeking a white pickup that ran over 35-year-old Maxwell Kyle Hardin as he laid in the roadway of Farm-to-Market Road 726 after wrecking the motorcycle in an accident that also injured his girlfriend, Love said.
Hardin died after being taken by ambulance to East Texas Medical Center-Gilmer, where Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace W.V. Ray pronounced him dead at 8:35 p.m., Love said.
Donna Rene Miller, of Hallsville, who was marking her 36th birthday, was taken by ambulance to Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview with possible head injuries, but was expected to recover, Love said. She and Hardin had left a birthday party at her home in Hallsville, the trooper said.
Authorities do not know whether it was the motorcycle crash, or the pickup that killed Hardin, Love said.
The trooper said Hardin and Ms. Miller were southbound on FM 726 between the intersections of Texas Highway 154 and Farm-to-Market Road 1650 (near Glenwood community) when Hardin swerved the 1999 Honda Shadow to miss a deer. The driver lost control and ran into a ditch on the road’s right side, throwing him and Ms. Miller off the motorcycle.
Hardin was in the southbound lane when within 30 seconds, the southbound pickup overran him and stopped momentarily before continuing southward on FM 726. A man who was sitting on his porch witnessed the motorcycle accident and was going to help when he saw the pickup run over Hardin.
The witness couldn’t tell anything about the driver but he said nobody exited the vehicle. Authorities have no description of it other than it was a white pickup, and anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the Tyler DPS office at 903-939-6000 or the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office at 903-843-2541.
Leaving the scene of the accident was a felony offense.
Hardin and Ms. Miller weren’t wearing helmets, but she was able to call 911 on her cell phone. Love was notified of the incidents at 7:15 p.m.
Those were the first of four traffic crashes attributable at least partly to animals in rural Upshur County on Sunday evening. The other two, both caused by a calf who strayed into Farm-to-Market Road 2263 three miles east of Gilmer, resulted in no serious injuries, Love said.
The calf, located in a field off the roadway some time after the two crashes, survived.
Hardin was in the southbound lane when within 30 seconds, the southbound pickup overran him and stopped momentarily before continuing southward on FM 726. A man who was sitting on his porch witnessed the motorcycle accident and was going to help when he saw the pickup run over Hardin.
The witness couldn’t tell anything about the driver but he said nobody exited the vehicle. Authorities have no description of it other than it was a white pickup, and anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the Tyler DPS office at 903-939-6000 or the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office at 903-843-2541.
Leaving the scene of the accident was a felony offense.
Hardin and Ms. Miller weren’t wearing helmets, but she was able to call 911 on her cell phone. Love was notified of the incidents at 7:15 p.m.
Those were the first of four traffic crashes attributable at least partly to animals in rural Upshur County on Sunday evening. The other two, both caused by a calf who strayed into Farm-to-Market Road 2263 three miles east of Gilmer, resulted in no serious injuries, Love said.
The calf, located in a field off the roadway some time after the two crashes, survived.
