Tuesday morning close to 5am Blake Newman, 22, of Huntsville was southbound on FM 1791 in the Sam Houston National Forest near the Montgomery, Grimes, Walker County line. He was driving his 2003 Dodge 2500 pickup. Due to the darkness and fog he did not see an approximately five foot round pine tree which had fallen across the road. Branches of the pine still had it elevated as he hit it ripping the top off his truck. The impact knocked the branches off dropping it all the way to the ground. About an hour later another vehicle traveling down the road also slammed into it. When a Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputy pulled up on the scene to work the second crash, he discovered the truck in the woods as a result of the first crash.
What a sad and tragic accident. In all my years of driving the back roads of Texas I have never heard of an accident like this. I have seen many folks wreck their cars on logs across the road but never with one where the branches left the tree so high as to hit a truck at it’s weakest point. My thoughts and prayers go out to Blake’s family and friends.