KIT CARSON, COLO. — An Oregon man who lost his gay son to suicide and was walking across the country to raise awareness about bullying is dead after being hit by a truck in Colorado.
The Colorado State Patrol says 48-year-old Joseph Bell of La Grande, Ore., died Wednesday after being struck along a two-lane highway in a rural area 20 miles northwest of Kit Carson. Investigators believe the driver fell asleep.
Bell’s 15-year-old son, Jadin, died in February after hanging himself in a schoolyard. He had reported being bullied but didn’t leave a suicide note.
The truck driver, Kenneth Raven, 49, of Bryan, Texas, has been charged with careless driving resulting in death, a misdemeanor.
