MCLENNAN COUNTY -
A Texas man is dead after a highway wreck that was a close call for a state trooper.
The trooper was performing a routine traffic stop on I-35 southbound near Exit 326 in McLennan County, when 72-year-old Alois Schubert smashed his Toyota Prius into a Ford pick-up truck, Trooper D. L. Wilson said.
The passenger in the Prius, 66-year-old James Malac of Georgetown, was killed, and Schubert was taken to the hospital with unknown injuries.
The driver of the truck was not injured.
Just seconds before the crash, the trooper had almost stepped out of his patrol car. The close call was one of many dangerous situations troopers face.
"We've had 88 troopers killed in the line of duty since 1935," Trooper Wilson said. "We're out here on the roadways every day and the cars are our most dangerous enemies. Of course, we still get in shoot-outs, and we have stabbings with troopers and fights, but the cars are what's the most dangerous thing for troopers on the side of the road."
There were no skid marks on the road, indicating Schubert might not have attempted to stop. Investigators are trying to piece together what caused the accident.
