According to the official Kentucky State Police press release; at 12:20 p.m., Trooper Walt Cashen of Kentucky State Police Post 10 responded to a fatal crash at the Delta Gas station in Pineville. John T. Davenport, a 44-year-old Pineville man, was traveling north on US Hwy. 25E in a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado truck. Davenport left the roadway and traveled across the parking lot of Delta Gas and struck a gas pump, knocking it over and engulfing the truck in flames. Cashen claims that, according to witnesses, Davenport was slumped over the steering wheel prior to striking the gas pump. Bell County Coroner Bill Bisceglia pronounced Davenport dead at the scene. Assisting at the scene was Trooper Don Perry, Detective Doyle Halcomb, Bell County E.M.S. and the Pineville Fire Department. The incident is under investigation by Trooper Cashen.
“He [Davenport] ran off the road, hit that gas tank and caught the place on fire,” Cashen relayed upon initial requests for a statement at the scene. He later elaborated, “That car was parked at the gas pump, the red Ford Taurus belonging to Elva Helton. The black pickup ran off of 25-E. The driver was slumped over, they couldn’t even see the driver. He hit the car, the gas tank and then punctured a CO2 tank also. When the gas hit the CO2, flames went up.”
Bell County Deputy Coroner Bill Bisceglia released official details late Tuesday afternoon, after notifying next of kin of the tragedy. Bisceglia confirmed the victim’s identity and gave a second official account of the situation. Bisceglia said that according to witnesses' statements, the driver of the truck veered off the road toward the gas station, possibly slumped over, struck the gas pump, which resulted in the fire. Bisceglia confirmed that the body has been sent to the state medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. Arnett & Steele Funeral Home is in charge of funeral arrangements.
The highway was littered with bystanders and traffic was backed up on either side of the accident for nearly an hour on Tuesday. “I heard it on the scanner. They said that there was one fatality to start with. When I got here, flames were shooting up over top of the building. But the fire department had it put out in a few minutes,” a bystander who chose to remain anonymous said while standing in view of the tragic scene. The cab of the truck was sheilded by a tarp and the Delta Gas parking lot was restricted with caution tape shortly after the accident, as officials worked to shed light on the tragic situation.
Brandy Murray Calvert is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. Contact her via e-mail at bmurray@middlesborodailynews.com.
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