Pastor Killed by Garbage Truck on Busy Texas Interstate
A congregation in Garland, Texas, is mourning the loss of their assistant pastor, who was killed over the weekend when he was struck by a garbage truck on a busy freeway after his minivan stalled.
Austine Ogbiede, assistant pastor of Christ Embassy Church in Garland, was killed instantly around 2 p.m. on Saturday when he stepped out of his minivan on the busy LBJ Freeway to check a flat tire. Upon stepping out of his car, Ogbiede was reportedly struck by a garbage truck in the highway's second lane near 75 Central.
Members of the Christ Embassy Church have now rallied around Blessing Ogbiede, wife of the deceased assistant pastor who is now responsible for taking care of the couple's two sons, ages 3 and 5. "Before he left yesterday, he was talking about his kids," Ogbiede told CBS-11 of her husband. "How he wanted his kids to be raised in the house of God."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The wife of the 46-year-old assistant pastor went on to reflect on how helpful her husband had been in the ministry, answering calls of congregants at any hour to offer his pastoral direction. "You can call him any time of night and he picks up the phone, for counseling, for prayer," she said.
The Dallas Morning News reports that no charges will be filed against the driver of the garbage truck that struck Ogbiede.
In the past several weeks, pastors in multiple states have been victims of fatal car accidents. Glen Pugh, the 51-year-old senior pastor at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Ala., was killed at 9:10 a.m. on March 5 while traveling in a pickup truck in the southbound lane of I-85 in Shorter. Pugh's truck reportedly struck the back of a tractor trailer, stopping traffic for miles as Alabama State Troopers investigated the collision. Pugh was the only victim of the accident.
The Rev. Joshua Allen, 30, of Las Cruces, N.M., was killed on Feb. 24 while traveling on Interstate 10 to pick his brother up from the airport. Allen was struck by a vehicle driving the wrong way on the highway, and both drivers were killed by the head-on collision.
On Feb. 15, Jeff Rollins, pastor of First Baptist Church of Springfield, Ga., died in a car accident near the South Carolina/George State Line when his car veered off the highway and hit a tree. The 55-year-old, who had led his congregation since 1989, was the only passenger in the car. The church referenced their pastor's death in a Facebook post shortly following the incident: "With broken hearts, we ask for prayer for our church family but especially the family of our own Jeff Rollins. He was involved in a fatal car accident this evening. We will have a time of prayer and worship tomorrow."
