A man was killed after being struck on the Western Kentucky Parkway between Leitchfield and Caneyville.
Thursday afternoon at approximately 3:25, the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office, Leitchfield Fire Department, Constable Mark Stanton, Kentucky State Police, and EMS responded to the accident near the 99-mile marker of the westbound WK Parkway.
Upon arriving at the scene, multiple first responders said that it appeared as if a male driver in his 50s or early 60s was traveling west on the parkway with two female passengers when he decided to pull over on the shoulder and relieve himself.
After going to the bathroom on the side of the parkway, the man, from Christian County, apparently walked to the driver’s side passenger door — on the edge of the westbound parkway’s right lane — to get a soda out of a cooler in the back seat. At that time, a delivery van pulling a trailer struck the man and nearly ripped the back door off the vehicle.
(One first responder told K105 that the passenger car was parked nearly on the white line separating the right lane and shoulder.)
CPR was performed on the victim at the scene by a passerby and Stanton. He was then transported to Owensboro Health Twin Lakes Medical Center (OHTLMC) by EMS where he was pronounced deceased a short time later by the Grayson County Coroner’s Office.
Kentucky State Police is leading the death investigation, but the agency’s accident reconstructionist delayed the reconstruction because of severe weather in the area.
State police took control of the vehicle’s involved in the accident and marked key locations at the scene (position of the vehicles, where the victim was found, etc.). The accident reconstructionist will return to the site to officially determine how the accident unfolded.
The name of the victim has not yet been released. The two women traveling with the victim were not injured.
The driver of the van, who was clearly distraught, underwent a blood draw at OHTLMC.
K105 will have more information on this story as it becomes available.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
