A Benbrook man was killed Thursday afternoon in a collision with a tractor-trailer in the 900 block of Interstate 35, south of Alsbury Boulevard.
Bryan McCormick, 49, was the passenger in a box truck that police believe was unable to avoid a tractor-trailer that had been parked on the shoulder of the highway and was merging into traffic.
"We're still in the process of matching witness reports to help us determine how the accident happened," said Burleson Police Sgt. Brian O'Heren.
Police are unclear as to the reason the tractor-trailer had been parked on the highway shoulder. The operator of the tractor-trailer merged into the far outside lane and into the next lane, O'Heren said.
"We are not sure if he already occupied [the left inside lane], or if he was merging and the box truck hit him," he said.
The left rear trailer was struck by the right front of the box truck, killing McCormick at about 2 p.m. The Tarrant County medical examiner's autopsy determined blunt force trauma to his chest, pelvis and right leg as the cause of death.
It is too early to tell if speed may have been a factor in the crash, O'Heren said.
"Anytime we have a fatality on a roadway, it is very unfortunate," Police Chief Billy Cordell said.
The operator of the box truck was transported to a local hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. The operator of the tractor-trailer was not injured in the crash.