TYLER, Texas — Editor's Note: The above video was published on March 31, 2023
A crash report determined the truck that struck and killed East Texas radio host John Sims was making a legal right-hand turn as Sims stepped into the crosswalk when he shouldn't have crossed yet.
Sims, 70, passed away overnight March 31 after the crash around 8 a.m. March 28, in the area of W. Front St. and S. Bonner Ave., caused him to have severe brain injury, police and KTBB owner Paul Gleiser said.
According to a Texas Department of Transportation crash report, the truck was at a stop in the northbound lanes of the 400 block of S. Bonner Street getting ready to take a right-hand turn onto 400 E. Front Street.
The driver of the truck said he saw the light was blinking red right turn before making his turn. He looked both ways and proceeded to turn onto East Front Street, the report said.
TxDOT information showed Sims stepped out into the crosswalk and the truck struck Sims, while making the turn. A witness of the crash said the light was green for the truck driver when the crash happened.
Police later determined Sims had no cross sign at the time of the crash. He was taken to the hospital for his serious injury, and he died from those injuries on March 31.
Police said an autopsy has been ordered.
Sims, who worked for the KTBB Radio station in Tyler, was a native of Philadelphia who spent more than 45 years in radio, according to his KTBB biography.
Over the years, he was very active in local causes, including being a past president of Leadership Tyler and the Smith County Community Partnership Council (a citizen group that works with the state parole division). He was also the chairman emeritus for the Tyler Together Race Relations Forum, the biography states.
He was also active in the League of Women Voters, the March of Dimes, the Tyler Church and Community Network and East Texas Wheelers and Walkers (a fellowship and advocacy group for people with spinal cord injuries), according to KTBB.