Man Killed While Trying To Pull Car From Ditch
RILEY TWP. (WWJ) - A 22-year-old St. Clair County man was killed when he was struck by a vehicle while helping a friend remove her car from a ditch.
Police say the accident happened around 5:45 a.m. Saturday on Bordman and Riley Center roads in Richmond Township.
According to police, the situation unfolded after a 20-year-old Port Huron woman lost control of her car and slid into a ditch at the intersection. The woman called her friend, the victim, to help pull her car out. The man, whose name was not released, arrived on the scene and positioned his truck facing eastbound in the westbound lane of traffic, with his head lights on.
While the man was down in the ditch trying to hook a chain to the woman's car, a 25-year-old man driving a pickup truck in the westbound lane approached the scene. That man told police he was blinded by the lights of the victim's truck, and thought it was actually traveling the wrong-way in his lane of travel. Police say the driver swerved to avoid hitting the parked truck, but ended up striking the man in the ditch.
The victim, of Avoca, was pronounced dead at the scene. Neither the woman nor the driver of the pickup truck were injured.
Police say alcohol was not a factor in the crash, which remains under investigation.
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