ALLEGAN TOWNSHIP — A 22-year-old Allegan County man was struck by a vehicle and killed Thursday morning when police say he intentionally ran in front of a vehicle after an argument with his girlfriend .
Allegan County sheriff's deputies found Skip Edward Barber after responding at 5:05 a.m. to a report of a possible car-pedestrian crash on M-89, east of the city of Allegan in Allegan Township. Deputies said Barber, who was being tended to by his girlfriend when the officers arrived, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police closed M-89 Thursday following the incident.
Deputies said that Barber's girlfriend, whose name has not been released, told investigators that she and Barber had been in an argument at Barber's Allegan Township residence prior to the incident and she left the residence in her car. Barber followed his girlfriend on foot and laid down in the middle of M-89, according to a news release.
The girlfriend told deputies she stopped her vehicle and tried to get Barber out of the road but “he kept going back and laying in the roadway,” police said. Barber's girlfriend told deputies a tractor-semitrailer nearly hit him and another car swerved to avoid him.
When a third vehicle came along, Barber's girlfriend told deputies that Barber ran in front of the vehicle and the vehicle's driver, a Plainwell-area man, swerved to avoid hitting Barber. However, the vehicle struck Barber “causing fatal injuries,” the news release said.
Deputies are continuing to investigate the incident but said “initial information and statements indicate that this was an intentional act by (Barber) and that the striking vehicle was making attempts to avoid him when he was struck.”
Deputies said evidence from their investigation “indicates that (Barber) had been drinking.” Police said the driver that struck Barber was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash and had not been drinking.
Contact Rex Hall Jr. at rhall@kalamazoogazette.com or 269-388-7784.
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