PALESTINE —
A report released by the Texas Department of Public Safety on a three-vehicle wreck earlier this summer indicates an Anderson County sheriff’s deputy “disregarded” a stop sign prior to the collision which left him with serious injuries and sent six others to a local hospital.
Authorities have said Hunter Lawrence, 24, an Anderson County sheriff’s deputy, was en route to the Elkhart area shortly before 10:50 p.m. on June 2 to assist a fellow deputy when the multiple vehicle wreck occurred at the intersection of Benbrook Drive and U.S. 287 South, just inside the Palestine city limits.
Lawrence, who was listed in critical condition at a Tyler hospital in the days following the wreck, suffered a fractured skull, cracked ribs, cracked pelvis, broken jaw and other injuries in the mishap. He is now out of the hospital recovering from his injuries.
Six other persons were transported to a local hospital with undisclosed injuries, according to the DPS report obtained by the Herald-Press Monday following a public records request by the newspaper.
Authorities have previously indicated that none of the other injured persons had life-threatening injuries.
DPS Trooper Lynn Hubert investigated the wreck.
According to the DPS report, Lawrence was traveling southwest on Benbrook Drive in his 2006 Chevrolet Impala squad car when he “disregarded the stop sign at Benbrook and U.S. 287,” first striking a 2002 Ford F-250 pickup driven by 35-year-old Reynaldo Ray Ordonez of Palestine who was traveling northbound on U.S. 287. The force of the initial collision pushed Lawrence’s squad car into the southbound lane of U.S. 287 where it then collided with a 2011 Ford Expedition driven by 31-year-old Maranda Leigh Shanks of Elkhart, the report further indicated.
Following the wreck, Ordonez and four other passengers in his vehicle ages 5 through 35 were transported to Palestine Regional Medical Center by ambulance with non-incapacitating injuries, according to the report. Shanks was also transported to PRMC by ambulance, the report continued.
None of the vehicles’ occupants were ejected from their vehicles, according to the report.
Lawrence had to be extricated from his squad car, Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor told the Herald-Press at the time of the wreck.
Taylor offered little comment when asked about the wreck Monday.
“He was en route to back up an officer,” Taylor said. “He was involved in a wreck with two other vehicles. Beyond that, I don’t have any other comment.”
When asked if the deputy had his siren and overhead lights activated at the time of the wreck, Taylor said, “We believe he had both on, yes.”
Lawrence began his employment with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office as a jailer and later completed the East Texas Police Academy, earning a promotion to deputy.
Paul Stone may be contacted via e-mail at pstone@palestineherald.com
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