A Durant man was killed Tuesday evening while picking up debris that had fallen off the back of a trailer, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said.

Samuel R. Cruz. 30, was dead at the scene of the 6 p.m. crash east of Durant on Highway 70.

According to the patrol, Cruz was a passenger in a pickup driven by Daniel W. Coditt, 35, Calera. Coditt stopped the pickup in the roadway to retrieve debris that had fallen off of the trailer the truck was pulling. Cruz was putting the debris back on the trailer when an eastbound pickup driven by Eddie Claborn Jr., 82, Durant, hit the trailer which pinned Cruz between it and Coditt’s pickup. Bryan County EMS pronounced him dead due to massive head and trunk injuries.

Claborn was transported by Bryan County EMS to the Medical Center of Southeastern Oklahoma where he was treated and released, according to the patrol. Coditt was not injured.

Improper parking on the roadway by Coditt and the trailer not having tail lights were cited in Trooper Mike Green’s report as the cause of the crash.

The highway was closed for two hours and 45 minutes while authorities investigated the accident and cleared the scene. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation assisted with rerouting traffic.

OHP Capt. Ronnie Hampton, the Bryan County Sheriff’s Office and Durant Police Department and the Durant Fire Department also assisted.

In other crashes, a Sherman, Texas, man who drove his pickup off the Denison Dam on Highway 91 has died from his injuries. According to the patrol, Aristides Sanchez Hernandez, 50, had been placed on life support due to severe head injures sustained in the Nov. 20 crash. OHP said Tuesday that Hernandez died Monday morning.

Durant firefighters responded to two small fires Tuesday. Someone called the fire department at 2:40 p.m. about a grass fire in the 2500 block of North First Avenue. When firefighters arrived, they found grass and leaves burning at Green Oaks Landscape. No one was at the scene, so firefighters put out the fire.

Firefighters responded at 4 p.m. to 400 W. Poplar St. about playground equipment on fire. Upon arrival, firefighters saw a wooden speaker box on fire and they put out the fire. A cause of the fire was not disclosed.