© 2024 88.9 KETR
Public Radio for Northeast Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Tragic Motorcycle Accident Takes Life

A rural Sulphur Springs resident, Billy Martel, 51, was killed early Wednesday morning, Oct. 31, at 1:10 a.m. in a motorcycle crash according to the Sulphur Springs News-Telegram.

Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office emergency 911 dispatchers received a call at 12:52 a.m. reporting a vehicle crash involving a motorcycle on State Highway 19, about half a mile south of Joe Bob’s convenience store. Hopkins County Sheriff’s Deputies David Ray and Todd Evans and Cpl. Walt Kimmel, along with Hopkins County and North Hopkins firefighters and EMS, were dispatched to the location.

Upon arrival, deputies reported one person dead at the scene. While still under investigation, local officials said Martel is believed to have wrecked his silver Suzuki motorcycle in the road returning home from work at Morningstar, causing him to be thrown from it, with both the driver and the motorcycle coming to rest in the roadway.

A truck driver reportedly passed through the area sometime after the crash, and ran over the deceased with his 18-wheeler. The truck driver, according to law enforcement reports, reported seeing something in the road, likely the motorcycle, and swerved to try to avoid it, instead striking something else in the road with the truck.

His body was released to Murray-Orwosky Funeral Home.