FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - Butler Township police are trying to determine how a 25-year-old Ashland man came out of a vehicle that crashed on Route 61, Fountain Street, about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Sean Harris, Centre Street, was pronounced dead at the scene by Schuylkill County Deputy Coroner Scott Clews. Butler Township police Lt. Daniel Holderman said Thursday that he is not sure if Harris was ejected or fell from the vehicle before it slammed into a property along Route 61.
The driver of the 1994 Saturn, Jack Larizzio, also of Centre Street, Ashland, was taken to a Pottsville hospital for treatment of nonlife-threatening injuries, police said.
Holderman said the crash occurred as Larizzio was driving south, about a half-mile north of the entrance to North Schuylkill High School, when he left his lane of travel, crossed the northbound lane and struck a mailbox.
The car continued north until it struck a pickup truck owned by James Neumeister, Fountain Springs, that was parked near Neumeister's home.
After hitting the truck, Holderman said the car spun around and struck a pile of wood in front of Neumeister's home and came to a stop facing north.
Harris was found lying on the northbound lanes of Route 61 alongside a U.S. Postal Service delivery truck.
The truck was being operated by mail carrier Donna Shuder, Ashland, who was out of the vehicle delivering mail to homes in the area.
On Wednesday, witnesses said the Saturn struck the mail truck but police said that wasn't correct.
Holderman said Shuder was not injured but was "shaken up" and taken to Shamokin Area Hospital as a precaution.
Neumeister and a teen, Draven Prentize-Crist, were not injured.
Neumeister said he just asked Prentize-Crist to check a nearby mailbox and that if he hadn't asked the teen to get the mail, he could have been struck and killed.
Holderman said an autopsy on Harris was conducted Thursday at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest and that he is awaiting the results. The lieutenant also said toxicology tests were taken on Harris and Larizzio and the investigation is continuing.