UPDATE 9:36 p.m.:
The Bell County Sheriff's Office says Airport Road, Highway 36 and Highway 317 reopened after 9 p.m. and the crash has been cleared from the roadway.
UPDATE 5:52 p.m.:
A 39-year-old man from Gatesville was killed Tuesday afternoon in a head-on crash with a semi-truck on Highway 36 following a multi-agency search and pursuit, according to the Bell County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident started around 1 p.m., when the Gatesville Police Department requested assistance from Bell County Sheriff’s deputies and the Temple Police Department in finding a man experiencing a mental health crisis and threatening self-harm.
Authorities were also investigating the man for assault causing bodily injury to a pregnant victim, a family violence case.
Information provided to deputies indicated that the man might be near White Flint Park, close to the “long bridge” on Highway 36, in a blue Dodge pickup.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers park ranger made contact with the man in that vehicle, but he drove away.
Bell County Sheriff deputies soon spotted the pickup heading east on Highway 36 and attempted a traffic stop.
The man drove off, leading deputies toward Temple. While crossing the Highway 317 overpass, he veered into oncoming traffic and crashed head-on with a semi-tractor hauling a flatbed trailer loaded with oilfield pipe going westbound.
The impact caused the load on the truck's trailer to come off and blocked the roadway.
The man died at the scene from his injuries. Justice of the Peace Larry Wilkey has ordered an autopsy to be conducted at the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The semi-truck driver, from Channelview, was taken to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Temple. His name has not been released due to federal privacy regulations.
Because investigators believe the crash was intentional, the Texas Highway Patrol are not handling this investigation, rather the Bell County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division is leading the case, with assistance at the crash site from Temple Police Department, Temple Fire Department, and Gatesville Police. Temple Police used drone photography to document the scene.
Cleanup efforts continued into the evening, with sections of Highway 36 remaining closed to traffic.
Here is the traffic backup and the roadway closure as of 5:52 p.m.:
ORIGINAL 2:32 p.m.:
The Bell County Sheriff's Office is on scene of a crash at Airport Road and Highway 36, over Highway 317.
The sheriff's office says the entire roadway is blocked and traffic is being diverted and says drivers need to take alternate routes.
Below you can see the traffic back up as of 2:30 p.m.:
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