Thursday crash claims life of Bellville woman

SWEET HOME—A 74-year-old Bellville woman is dead after she collided with loaded dump truck along Highway 77A at the Sweet Home turnoff Thursday afternoon.

The accident took place at about 3 p.m. Thursday, local officials said, shutting down the highway for about two hours as first responders from across the area worked to free Joy Kroger, 74, of Bellville from the wreckage.

Kroger appears to have collided with the dump truck quite nearly head-on Thursday, June 8, along Highway 77A, almost directly in front of the shipping yard at Rock Hard Materials, a local hauling company from gravel and such.

The impact drove the front end of Kroger station wagon underneath the chassis of the big rig dump truck, placing her driver’s side door directly under the front bumper of the much larger, 2001 International truck-tractor.

“It was a difficult extrication which took patience and precision to execute,” said Greg Murrile, emergency management coordinator with the Lavaca County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

Successfully freed from the wreckage, Kroger was flown by Halo Flight to an area trauma center, where according to reports, Kroger later succumbed to her injuries.

Hallie Herman, 20, of Shiner, driver of the dump truck, was also taken to the hospital following Thursday’s collision. She was listed in stable condition as of Friday afternoon.

No official word on the crash from the Texas Department of Public Safety was available as of this printing. As it is now subject of a fatality crash, it will likely be under investigation for some weeks.

Thursday’s extrication also saw crews Sweet Home Volunteer Fire Department, Yoakum Volunteer Fire Department, Yoakum EMS, Hallettsville Volunteer Fire Department, Lavaca County Sheriff ’s Office, Lavaca County and the Texas Department of Public Safety.