CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — A Clarksville man is fighting for his life after police say he fell out of the bed of a moving pickup truck.
Officers found the 19-year-old man in the middle of 101st Airborne Division Parkway around midnight Monday morning after a series of 911 calls. They weren't sure what happened at first.
"You've got someone laying in the middle of the roadway, no signs of assault, or a vehicle hitting him," Sgt. Johnny Ransdell told WSMV.
The man had severe injuries and road rash after falling out of the bed of a pick-up truck, and investigators believe he rolled on the roadway for 86 feet after he fell.
Investigators eventually pieced together what happened.
The man's friends did not want him driving drunk, so they put him in the truck bed to take him home. They had no idea that he fell.
"The drive back home, they never felt anybody exit the vehicle, they never felt any weight shift or anything like that, they just know when they got home, they looked at the back of the truck, and he's gone," said Ransdell.
Investigators say the guy driving the man home, had the right intent, it just wasn't executed very well.
"These guys last night, they were trying to do everything right, the gentleman who fell out had no way to get home, these guys were actually trying to help him out," said Ransdell.
The speed limit along 101st Parkway is 55 miles an hour. Clarksville Police said it's amazing that the man survived the fall at that speed.