GILMER, Texas — A man died Sunday morning in Upshur County after being ejected from the driver's seat, the Department of Public Safety is reporting.
At 10:55 a.m., DPS troopers responded to a fatal crash on FM 593, approximately 10 miles northeast of the city of Gilmer.
The investigator's preliminary report indicates that the driver of a 2002 Ford Explorer was traveling eastbound on FM 593 approaching a left curve in the roadway. The vehicle went off the roadway to the right, overturned and ejected the unrestrained driver, Elmer Leroy Blankenship, 53, of Pittsburg.
Blankenship was pronounced at the scene by Judge Lyle Potter and was taken to Croley Funeral Home in Gilmer.
A passenger in the vehicle, Denise Murphy, 22, of Pittsburg was transported to Good Shepard Medical Center – Longview in stable condition.
