The man who died early Saturday morning on Interstate 10 has been identified as 52-year-old Pierre Moise Patin of Lake Charles. Moise died after falling about 50 feet from the Neches River Bridge while trying to get out of traffic after a crash on the interstate about 5:20 a.m. Saturday.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said a passenger vehicle was stalled in the outside westbound lane of the bridge. A TxDOT work van was traveling in the same lane and slowed down to avoid colliding with the disabled vehicle.
When the van slowed, a Chevrolet pickup truck hit it from behind.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigated the death because it was related to the fall and not the collision. Detective Chad Hogan said the car that stalled was a Geo Metro. After the pickup truck hit the van, the two occupants of the van decided to get out because they were concerned about being hit by another vehicle.
The bridge is under construction and the passenger in the van jumped over the railing to another section of the bridge which was about three feet away. The driver of the pickup truck also jumped to the other side. However, Patin, who was the driver of the van, jumped and did not make the other side and fell. Justice of the Peace David Peck pronounced Patin dead at the scene.
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