BEAUMONT, Texas — A man died after he drove his semi off a roadway and into a canal Monday morning.
Vincent Runkle, 62, of Silsbee, was driving a 2016 Peterbuilt semi tractor trailer pulling a hopper trailer at 3:30 a.m. Friday, August 21, Beaumont Police Officer Carol Riley said in a news release.
The semi left the roadway in the 100 block of East Cardinal Drive, traveling across the southbound service road and coming to rest in the LNVA canal, Riley said. Investigators do not yet know why Runkle left the roadway.
Beaumont Police officers jumped into the canal and pulled him from the semi to the bank of the canal, where paramedics tried to revive him.
Runkle was taken St. Elizabeth hospital where he was pronounced dead, Riley said.
Beaumont Police have ordered an autopsy and notified his next-of-kin.