Hit and run driver killed Fort Hood Reservist

Hit-and-run driver kills local soldier
by Spencer Crawford/Villa Rican

A Villa Rica soldier was killed by a hit-and-run driver outside Fort Hood, Texas, early Friday morning, just weeks before he was to be sent to the Middle East for his fourth tour of duty.

James Michael Butler, 35, was an Army Reservist who had just reported to duty to Fort Hood on July 11 for four weeks of preparation before being sent to Afghanistan for a tour as a fixed-wing aircraft pilot. He had served three previous tours in either Iraq or Afghanistan as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot.

According to Killeen, Texas, media reports, a woman was driving down U.S. Business 190 near South Fort Hood Street about 4 a.m. Friday morning when she saw something in the road, tried to swerve and miss it, but couldn’t. It turned out to be Butler’s body, which state troopers say had already been run over by another car that fled the scene and is still being sought.


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Hit and run driver kills local soldier