By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com
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A wreck Friday involving five vehicles on U.S. 67 resulted in the death of one man. The accident occurred about 10:30 a.m. near U.S. 67 and Walls Drive.
Police identified the man as Neil Howard, 31, of Pilot Point. Howard was a driver for Jeter 3, a Denton company, police said.
Howard’s truck, a tractor trailer traveling northbound on U.S. 67, crossed the center stripe, clipping another tractor-trailer rig traveling south on U.S. 67. The impact caused the northbound truck to collide head on into a second southbound tractor trailer, police said.
Howard ejected from his truck and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. A CareFlite ambulance transported the driver of the second truck involved in the head-on to Texas Health Resources Harris Fort Worth. That man, whose name has not been released, suffered nonlife-threatening injuries, officials said.
The wreck also involved two pickups by non contact. One ran off the road to avoid the accident. The second sustained damage from flying debris. Neither driver sustained injury.
Debris from the wrecks stretched about a quarter of a mile down U.S. 67.
“The engine and transmission of the truck that had the fatality are about 150 feet from the vehicle,” Cleburne City Manager Chester Nolen said. “The cab is completely gone. All that’s left is the frame and the trailer.”
U.S. 67 was shut down for several hours Friday to clean up and investigate the accident.
