Driver Pronounced Dead After Okmulgee Crash

A driver is dead after a single vehicle crash on Highway 75 in Okmulgee Tuesday morning, Okmulgee Police said.

Police said the driver of a SUV ran off the road and into a metal fence in front of the Head Start building on the north edge of town at about 10:30 a.m.

Police Chief Joe Prentice told the Okmulgee Times newspaper, the Ford Explorer was southbound when for some unknown reason it left the road and struck a ‘Do No Enter' sign in the center median. The impact was about 350 feet north of where the SUV hit the fence.

"I think he tried to get back onto the road," Chief Prentice said. "He went back in a southwestern direction and came across the road and off on this side."

The SUV struck a school speed limit sign, knocking it to the ground before hitting the fence.

Prentice says the SUV never came close to a fenced-in playground north of the Head Start building.

He says the driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Prentice says the man may have died as a result of a medical issue, but says the state Medical Examiner's Office will have to make that determination.

The police chief was unsure if any children were on the playground at the time of the crash.

The name of the driver is being withheld until notification of next of kin.