Man killed in Williams County crash

3/1/2008

EDGERTON, Ohio A 77-year-old Texas man was pronounced dead after the pickup he was driving crashed on U.S. 6 a quarter mile west of Edgerton in southwestern Williams County near the Indiana line this morning, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.

James P. Thurber of Whitney, Texas, was driving west on U.S. 6 in St. Joseph Township about 8:20 a.m. when the pickup, which was pulling a new camper trailer, went off the north side of the road into a yard and struck a tree, troopers with the patrol s Defiance post said.

They found no evidence of swerving and no other vehicles involved and were investigating whether the driver suffered a heart attack prior to losing control.

Mr. Thurber was not wearing a seat belt, Sergeant George Jutze said.

Moments before the crash, Mr. Thurber had picked up the camper-trailer at Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. plant in Edgerton and was to deliver it to Texas, the sergeant said. The trailer was moderately damaged in the crash.