Published: November 03, 2008 09:53 pm      

Huntsville man dies after struck by car

A Huntsville man died Friday morning after being struck by a car while jogging on an Interstate 45 feeder road.

John Burick, 74, of Huntsville, was reportedly jogging against traffic on the north-bound feeder road of I-45 when he was struck head-on by a Ford F-150 pickup truck.

The accident occurred at around 10:55 a.m. on Friday, according to Huntsville Police Officer Calvin Blackshear, who filed the initial report on the accident.

Burick was transported by ambulance to Huntsville Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Shortly after the accident, Officer Scott Bennett, a member of the accident reconstruction team at HPD, was called to investigate the scene.

According to Bennett, the terrain in the area of the accident may have been a contributing factor.

“There are quite a few hills in that area,” he said. “It’s possible that the driver didn’t have very much time to see the jogger as he came over a hill. According to him, he tried to move to the other lane, but there was traffic there, and he couldn’t slow down in time.”

Burick’s body has been transported to the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy, the results of which are still pending.

Also pending are blood test results on the driver of the pickup truck, though Bennett noted that blood tests are routine for this kind of accident.

“We’re waiting on the blood tests, but we have no reason to suspect foul play,” he said. “It doesn’t appear that the driver was intoxicated on any substance. From what we can tell so far, it was just an unfortunate accident.”