SEGUIN — A Seguin man died Tuesday morning after his SUV struck a tractor-trailer on State Highway 46 South.
Seguin police officers were called to an area about a quarter mile from Seguin Municipal Court just after 8 a.m., said Traffic Officer Willie Ybarra.
“We know that the white Ford Explorer was northbound and the 18-wheeler was southbound,” Ybarra said. “Based on what we have observed, the Ford Explorer for some unknown reason veered into the southbound lane and collided with the 18-wheeler. The Explorer initially hit the front portion of the 18-wheeler, the truck, then it hit the rear portion and then it continued down the flat bed of the trailer and hit the rear tires of the trailer.”
Officers have identified the victim as Jason Michael Schomer, 30, of Seguin.
Schomer was trapped in the vehicle, said Seguin Fire Battalion Chief Rusty Krueger.
“The victim had to be extricated,” he said. “It took us about 20 minutes to cut the victim out of the car.”
Highway 46 had to be shut down between Jefferson Avenue and FM 725 while crews worked and AirLife landed.
About an hour after the accident, Justice of the Peace Pct. 1 Darrell Hunter pronounced the driver of the SUV dead at the scene.
The driver of the semi, a CMC employee, was uninjured, said Stephen Weaver, Director of Mills – Texas, CMC Central Region.
“We were made aware of the unfortunate incident this morning involving one of our vehicles and we have company representatives at the scene,” he said. “The driver of our vehicle initially appears to have sustained no serious injuries. At this time, we don’t have any further specific information to report on the incident.”
Ybarra said there are a number of factors that could have contributed to the accident.
“There are no skid marks for the Ford to indicate that he tried to stop,” he said. “We are thinking it could have been one of two things — he may have fallen asleep behind the wheel or maybe for some reason he may have lost control. The Explorer had a trailer and was hauling quite a bit of stuff. We don’t know if that was part of the reason that may have forced him across the road. We don’t know at this point if speed was a factor.”
The road was closed for three hours on Tuesday as crews cleared the scene and again in the afternoon for further investigation.
osbornsherri30 posted at 8:31 am on Wed, Oct 17, 2012.
I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. Mike and Margie, you will be in my prayers.