A fatality crash near Laurel Street headed west on Interstate 10 on Tuesday, Oct. 25, shut down the freeway for hours as officers from the Beaumont Police Department worked to restore order to the scene.
Preliminary information gathered from the scene revealed the operator of a box truck, transporting mail, was traveling northbound on the Highway 96/69 portion of the interstate and lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle struck a cement center divider and was knock it into southbound traffic.
A 2016 Ford Escape operated in the southbound lanes by Jonathan Allen Droddy, a 32-year-old Vidor man, was struck by the box truck. Droddy was killed upon impact.
The retaining wall struck a gray GMC Sierra pick-up that was traveling southbound. The driver of the pick-up was not injured. The driver of the box truck had non-life threatening injuries. The crash is still under investigation.