PRINCETON, W.Va. — Mercer County sheriff’s deputies said Friday a Bluefield, Virginia man may have been dead before a Mercer County school bus accidentally ran over him Thursday morning.
The school system said it’s fully cooperating with investigators in the death of Patrick Neal, 31.
Mercer County Deputy A.M. Ballard said Neal was lying across Stoney Ridge Road near Brushfork at 6:16 a.m. when the bus was making its morning run. Ballard said an autopsy could determine if Neal was dead before then or not.
The body is at the state Medical Examiner’s Office.