Two Milam County residents died Tuesday afternoon in a four-vehicle, chain reaction collision in a US 77 construction zone north of Minerva.
According to the Department of Public Safety, 84-year-old Byron Wise of Gause and Belinda Braddock, 66, of Rockdale were pronounced dead at the scene following the 2:59 p.m. collisions.
Cody Lightfoot, 43, of Rockdale was flown from the scene to Baylor Scott & White Hospital in Temple.
According to DPS Sgt. Dave Roberts, two vehicles—an 18-wheeler driven by David Pixley, 64, of Florida and a pickup operated by David Hartsough, 34, of Rock-dale—were stopped in the southbound lane by the construction crew, and a pickup, driven by Braddock, was slowing to stop.
The DPS said a pickup operated by Wise “failed to stop and slammed into the Braddock pickup.”
That triggered the chain reaction accident involving all four vehicles, the DPS said.
Lightfoot, who was flown from the scene in a medical helicopter, was a passenger in the Braddock vehicle, according to the DPS.
Pixley, in the 18-wheeler, was not injured, Sgt. Roberts said.
Justice of the Peace Sam Berry of Cameron was summoned to the accident scene.
Both the Rockdale and Cameron Volunteer Fire Departments responded to the scene, about five miles south of Cameron, along with the Milam County Sheriff’s Department and numerous DPS troopers.
The highway was closed for almost four hours and traffic was re-routed along county roads. The highway was re-opened just before 7 p.m.
FIVE FATALITIES—It’s been a deadly first quarter of 2019 in Milam County with five deaths reported in four fatal crashes.
On March 15, a motorcycle operated by Karen Frazier, 61, of Porter crashed on US 190/ Texas 36 near the Bell County line, causing fatal injuries.
On Feb. 16, a Killeen teacher sustained fatal injuries in a two-vehicle crash on Texas 36 south of Milano.
Vanessa Harrison died a day and a half later in a Bryan hospital.
On Feb. 27, a collision between an 18-wheeler and a pickup claimed another life on that same stretch of highway south of Milano. Pickup driver Louis Smith, 77, of Caldwell died.
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