CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, S.C. — Officials said a man who was severely burned in a camper but managed to escape was then fatally struck by a car Monday morning in Chesterfield County.
Police identified the man as 53-year-old Tyrone Bush.
Investigators said Bush suffered severe burns while escaping the camper and walked into the road at Oro Church Road and Highway 9.
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They said Bush was standing in the road when he was hit by a 24-year-old man in a Dodge pickup. The driver stopped at the scene and was not injured.
John Sowell was a life-long friend of Bush’s and likely the last person to see him alive Sunday night when he went to visit him.
“You get close to somebody. It’s hard. You gonna miss ‘em,” Sowell said.
Sowell said he wanted to give Bush another place to stay, other than his camper with a kerosene heater for heat.
"I tried to get him to go with me, but he wouldn't go. He said he wanted to stay around,” Sowell said.
Friends told Channel 9 Bush had suffered a stroke and used a walker to get around. The walker was found on the side of the road near his body after he was hit by the truck.
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents spent several hours digging through the ruins of the camper, which sits next to an abandoned trailer.
An official cause of the fire has not been released.
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