Veteran Committed Suicide in Texas Traffic

UPDATE

East Texas veteran who took own life ‘just couldn’t go on’
Longview News Journal
By Bridget Ortigo
Sep 17, 2014

Sederick Hill, a 14-year U.S. Army veteran who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, had expressed his frustration to family members about the lengthy process he was going through to receive help before he took his own life Friday.

Hill’s younger sister, Shakorey Kelley, said she had pleaded with her brother to seek help before Hill left the family’s home by foot Friday night and walked into an oncoming car on Texas 149 in Lakeport. Pct. 3 Justice of the Peace Talyna Carlson ruled the death a suicide.

“He talked about how much of a hassle it was to cross state lines and go fill out paperwork at the VA (Veterans Affairs) clinic in Louisiana, and then come back to Longview and fill out more paperwork before seeing a doctor,” Kelley said.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, about 20 percent of veterans, including those who served in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the Gulf and Vietnam wars, have been diagnosed with PTSD.

“We lose 22 veterans every day to suicide. That’s one person every 65 minutes,” Veteran Outreach Coordinator Lori Thomas with East Texas Veteran’s Resource Center said. “We have supported them while they were deployed, and we need to support them when they come home.”

September is observed as National Suicide Prevention Month, Thomas said.
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Police: Veteran suffering from PTSD jumps into traffic, dies on Texas 149
News Journal Longview Texas
September 14, 2014

Authorities say a 34-year-old military veteran was killed when he walked into traffic late Friday on Texas 149 south of Lakeport.

Lakeport police and Gregg County sheriff’s deputies were called earlier Friday to check on the welfare of a man walking along Texas 149, said Lt. Kirk Haddix of the Gregg County Sheriff's Office.

The man was in a car with family members along Texas 149 when he began threatening to commit suicide.

The car pulled over, and the man left the car as his family called 911, Haddix said.

A few minutes after two police units and deputies arrived, officers tried to calm the man down.

The man then jumped in the way of an oncoming car and was killed instantly, Haddix said.
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UPDATE

U.S. Army veteran struggling with PTSD struck by car along Highway 149
By KLTV Digital Media Staff
Posted: Sep 12, 2014
GREGG COUNTY, TX (KLTV)

A horrifying scene as a former serviceman, believed to be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), threw himself into oncoming traffic right in front of family and law enforcement officers.

It happened around 10 p.m. Friday night south of Longview on Highway 149, near the Ned Williams Elementary School in Lakeport. It was a scene investigators say no one could have possibly foreseen.

Detectives say 34-year-old Cederick Hill, of Killeen, was traveling with family members along Highway 149, when he began threatening to commit suicide.

Pulling onto the roadside, Hill exited the vehicle and his family called 9-1-1.

"Family members had called in and said that Cederick was having some issues threatening suicide, possibly issues related to PTSD when he was in the war," said Lieutenant Kirk Haddix of the Gregg County Sheriff's Office.
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