ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 1, 1996 TAG: 9611010063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER STAFF WRITER
An autopsy will be performed on a 40-year-old Northwest Roanoke man who was found dead in his pickup truck Thursday afternoon in an Interstate 581 median.
Bennie Joe Brant, who lived in the 2400 block of Ravenwood Avenue, did not have any visible injuries and the truck was not seriously damaged, which led people on the scene to speculate that he may have had a heart attack or blacked out while driving north on 581.
If he didn't black out, Brant may have missed the exit and lost control of his vehicle. The truck went off the left side of the road just past the Orange Avenue exit and into the median, where it hit a concrete drain.
Authorities aren't sure when the crash happened, but the engine was cool when they got to the scene, a rescue worker said. Because the truck was used for construction, passing motorists might have believed it was just parked in the median.
Some Roanoke utility workers noticed Brant's truck about noon, and when they stopped to check it out, they found him.
LENGTH: Short : 30 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB