PAINT LICK — A Crab Orchard man is dead after his pickup ran off a road in Garrard County, flipped and landed on top of him.
Micah Shearer, 37, of Gaffney road, and two passengers were ejected from the truck Shearer was driving during the wreck, state police said.
Shearer was pronounced dead at the scene by the Garrard County Coroner Daryl Hodge.
Hodge said it appears the truck flipped once, then rolled several times. The truck came to rest on top of Shearer, who died "immediately" from massive head and chest injuries.
"He was ejected but the truck came down on top of him," Hodge said. "We had to get a tow truck to lift it and kind of move it a little bit before we could get him out of there."
Alexandra Arce, 26, and Christopher Linville, 21, both of Berea, were transported to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, according to a news release. Arce was taken to Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center in Danville; Linville was taken to the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center in Lexington.
Hodge said a nurse who lives near the scene of the wreck was the first to arrive on the scene. She began treating Arce and Linville until emergency responders arrived.
"She knew right away that the person underneath was dead," he said.
Based on a preliminary investigation, state police think Shearer was traveling north on Gooch Pike when he failed to negotiate a curve, drove off the shoulder of the road and lost control of his vehicle.
No one in the vehicle was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.
Hodge said he can't say for sure the impact not wearing seat belts had on the accident, but "it would probably be a good assumption that they wouldn't have been ejected if they were wearing seat belts."
There will be no autopsy of Shearer's body, but toxicology results will be processed. Hodge said it will take about two weeks to get the toxicology results back.
Trooper Darrell Hutchison is the investigating officer. He was assisted at the scene by the Garrard County Sheriff's Department, Garrard County EMS and Hodge.
Funeral arrangements for Shearer are being handled by Davis and Powell Funeral Home in Berea.
