(If you or someone you know is having mental issues or suicidal thoughts or tendencies, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 and Press 1)
In the early hours of Christmas ‘22, Paul Donnelly, a Marine Corps veteran and father of three, passed away from injuries he suffered as he dropped from the underside of a passing truck. Police are still investigating the incident but have deemed the driver of the truck clear of wrongdoing.
We can only wonder why it happened
Ephrata Police reviewed dash camera footage of the truck, which also corroborated the driver’s version of events. It showed there were no pedestrians visible on the road, sidewalk, or side of the road as the truck approached and passed through the intersection.
There was also no footage indicating the truck hit anything at all. A nearby building’s surveillance video showed a different angle of the intersection, and it also showed there were no pedestrians in the area before the truck passed through.
As the truck left the intersection, the footage then showed Donnelly lying on the road. Officers arrived less than a minute later, having seen Donnelly’s body appear in the middle of the street.
Although the driver was cleared of charges, this will haunt him for a long time
On Jan. 3, Ephrata Police got the information they needed to clear the unnamed truck driver. Surveillance footage clearly showed Donnelly climbing onto the tractor-trailer and lying down on the chassis between the cab and the trailer while it was stopped at an intersection in Ephrata Borough.
He then climbed under the chassis and held onto the underside of the chassis upside down as the truck pulled away and out of camera view from the intersection. Less than a minute later, Donnelly appeared from under the trailer, suffering from mortal injuries.
Paul Donnelly, in memoriam
Paul Donnelly was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, having served his country from 2001 until 2007. He enrolled at Harrisburg Area Community College earning an associate degree in nursing.
He worked as a registered nurse (RN) for several hospitals and other care facilities, including; Lancaster Regional Medical Center, Ephrata Community Hospital, and Hershey Medical Center. Memorial contributions in Paul’s memory may be made to K9s for Warriors, https://k9sforwarriors.org, 114 Camp K9 Rd., Ponte Vedra, FL 32018.
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