A Texas firefighter and a police officer were killed and a second firefighter is in critical condition after they were struck by a vehicle while working at the scenes of two previous accidents Saturday.
Lubbock firefighters and police initially responded to a single-vehicle rollover crash at around 8:30 a.m.near Interstate 27 and Drew Street, north of the airport, KCBD-TV reports. A few minutes later, a second vehicle traveling south on I-27 hit the median several yards from the original crash.
Crews were still handling the previous accidents when a third vehicle traveling south on the interstate lost control and crossed the median. It struck two firefighters and a police officer before heading into the north lanes and stopping at the bottom of an embankment,
Lt. David Eric Hill, 39, was pronounced dead at the hospital, according to the department. Firefighter Matthew Kenneth Dawson, 30, remains in surgery and in critical condition, the department stated in an update Saturday afternoon.
Hill began joined the department in August 2009 and had recently been promoted to the lieutenant just before his 10-year anniversary. Dawson had joined the department in June 2014.
Nicholas Reyna, a 27-year-old Lubbock police officer, was pronounced dead at the scene, the department stated on social media. He had only been with the force for a year.
