ELLIS COUNTY, Okla. — The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is investigating a tractor-trailer rollover crash that happened June 4 in Ellis County.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said the truck was traveling east near milepost 9 on U.S. Highway 60 at around 7:15 a.m. when the driver fell asleep and left the roadway. The tractor-trailer rolled onto its side after the driver overcorrected.
A passenger, Jose L’Esperance, age 52, of Perryton, Texas, was riding in the sleeper cab when the truck overturned. He was pinned in the wreck for about 30 minutes before rescue crews extricated him from the damaged cab. Paramedics transported him in critical condition to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to injuries on June 14.
The driver, a man also from Perryton, sustained an arm injury but was not hospitalized.
The Highway Patrol continues to investigate the circumstances leading up to the accident.