Hospital patient killed by truck on expressway

Holland man left facility unnoticed

Sylvania police shut down southbound U.S. 23 near Monroe Street to respond to a fatal injury. Jeffrie Shirey, 37, was hit and killed by a truck while walking along the berm.

A Holland man was struck and killed by a truck Tuesday on U.S. 23 in Sylvania. Authorities said he had walked out of Flower Hospital, where he had been hospitalized.

Sylvania police said Jeffrie Shirey, 37, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities said Mr. Shirey was apparently walking along the U.S. 23 berm just south of Monroe Street, when he was struck by a southbound tractor-trailer driven by William Grafe, 46, of Brighton, Mich., around 3 p.m. Mr. Grafe, who was hauling soybeans from a Michigan farm, was not injured, police said.

Sylvania police did not say why Mr. Shirey was walking along the highway. Steve Kahle, a Lucas County Coroner's Office Investigator, said Mr. Shirey left Flower Hospital, where he had been a patient for two days.

"He had been in a hospital gown and at some point changed into street clothes. For whatever reason, he decided to leave and nobody knew he left," he said.

Hospital officials said Mr. Shirey was discovered missing from his room by members of the nursing staff shortly before 3 p.m. At that point the hospital activated a Code Brown, which alerts its staff that a patient is missing, and the hospital's security team began searching for him, said Tedra White, a ProMedica spokesman.

The security team received a call from the Sylvania Township Fire Department that Mr. Shirey had been struck and killed. The coroner’s office notified family members, she said.

Although Mr. Shirey was not discharged and left the hospital voluntarily, Ms. White said there will be a review of hospital procedures.

"Our thoughts and condolences are with the family of Mr. Jeffrie Shirey during this very difficult time," the hospital said in a statement.

Mr. Shirey had been admitted to the hospital Monday. Officials would not say why he was hospitalized, citing privacy laws.

His body was taken to the Lucas County Coroner's Office, where an autopsy will be performed.

The accident remains under investigation.