TEMPLE, Texas — The crash report for a deadly accident involving an oversized load in Temple has been released, giving an account of what happened on April 27.
According to the report from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), an F-150 truck was traveling eastbound on State Highway 36 approaching several other vehicles that were stopped to allow a wide load transport to pass in the westbound lane.
TxDOT said the heavy haul transport carried a 16-foot-wide, 343,000 lb. load on five separate, but connected flatbed trailers.
The heavy haul transport was too wide for the lane, said TxDOT, and had to straddle both the eastbound and westbound lanes. A Houston Police Officer on a motorcycle was reportedly escorting the convoy and directing eastbound traffic to pull to the right and stop for the wide load. Other escort vehicles with flashing lights were traveling ahead of the police motorcycle, said TxDOT.
TxDOT stated the driver of the F-150 failed to see the escort vehicles and "continued to disregard the warning" from the Houston Police Officer as the truck approached the line of stopped vehicles.
The F-150 driver swerved at the last moment, said TxDOT, crossing over the line into the westbound lane and into the path of the wide load transport.
The F-150 pulled onto the right shoulder for westbound traffic and stopped, partially blocking the westbound traffic lane, TxDOT said. The heavy haul transport was reportedly unable to move left and was forced to maneuver between the F-150 and the other stopped vehicles.
The heavy haul driver applied the brakes, which caused the load it was pulling to shift forward, said TxDOT. As the transport abruptly came to a stop, the chains holding the load snapped, causing the load to rotate to the right, falling off the trailer and onto the F-150, according to the report.
TxDOT said the driver of the F-150 was trapped in the vehicle, and two passengers in the vehicle were killed. Another vehicle reportedly was damaged when the chains broke and fell onto it.
The Temple Police Department Accident Reconstruction Team will reportedly complete an additional investigation that will contain more information, said TxDOT.
More from 6 News: