Pickup Driver Killed By Truck He Drove, Alcohol A Factor: Police

SEVERNA PARK, MD — A Severna Park man died early Saturday when he was run over by the pickup truck he had been driving. Anne Arundel County Police say alcohol use by Jose Romeo Lopez Villata, 30, of the 100 block of West Earleigh Heights Road in Severna Park, is likely a factor in the mishap that killed him.

The owner of the

Police were called about 12:45 a.m. on Nov. 17 to 105 West Earleigh Heights Road in Severna Park, where a Ford F350 pickup truck driven by Villata was backing in the driveway when he got out of the truck, which continued to roll and struck the driver. The vehicle came to a stop in a ditch.

The owner of the truck — Edin A. Sandoval Flores of Sandoval Services in Severna Park — later found the vehicle in the ditch and attempted to move it before realizing Villata was beneath the vehicle, police said. The driver was declared dead at the scene by Anne Arundel County Fire Department personnel and his body was taken to the Medical Examiner’s office in Baltimore for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

The primary cause of the accident is still under investigation, but police say alcohol use by the driver appears to have been a significant contributing circumstance. The case will be reviewed by the state's attorney.

Image via Anne Arundel County Police