GhLinks Media
A young man is dead and about 1,000 customers were without power after the driver of a pickup truck crashed into a utility pole early Wednesday morning about four miles west of Silsbee in Hardin County.
The DPS identifies the victim as Zachary Morris, 19, of Warren.
Captain Kevin Hussey with the DPS says the driver was headed west on FM 1122 near FM 418 at 3:20 a.m. Wednesday when he failed to make the curve and entered the ditch, then crashed head-on into a utility pole and then a large tree, knocking down the pole and several transformers.
He says the man wasn’t wearing a seat belt and was ejected. He died at the scene.
Chief Robin Jones of the Silsbee Volunteer Fire Department tells us the victim was in his early 20s.
The impact of the crash caused the pickup to briefly catch fire.
Roughly 1,000 people lost power. Chief Jones says the road was closed, then briefly reopened, but closed again when Entergy crews began working to restore power.
A check of the Entergy Outage Map showed 14 customers without power as of 3:30 this afternoon.
