Mitchell Belt Injured in Semi-Truck Accident in Enid, OK
Enid, OK — April 6, 2023, Mitchell Belt was injured as the result of an accident where a semi-truck collided with his vehicle on Van Buren Street.
Authorities with the Enid Police say that the collision took place at around 7:44 a.m. at the intersection of South Van Buren Street (U.S. 81) and Owen K. Garret Road (U.S. 412).
Initial details about the crash say that 33-year-old Mitchell Belt was in a Dodge Neon going southbound along Van Buren. While making a left turn onto Owen K. Garrett, the Dodge crashed with a westbound semi-truck.
Due to the collision, Belt sustained injuries described as critical. Other injuries are unclear right now. Current reports show that the truck driver claimed to have a green light, but a witness apparently saw the truck's light turn red for "three to four seconds" before the truck crossed through. Another witness apparently could not confirm one way or the other what happened.
It's likely going to take more thorough investigations to clear all of this up. A third party witness who has nothing to gain or lose seeming to suggest the truck driver ran a red light is obviously a big deal. But witnesses can make mistakes, and it takes a lot more than one statement to verify such serious events. I'm curious to know if authorities are treating this as a high priority to ensure nothing slips through the cracks. It would surprise people how often authorities can miss something that one would think to be pretty obvious.
I had this one situation not long ago with details similar to these. A truck and car collided at a traffic light, and there were conflicting statements about who had the right-of-way. The officer was so swamped with work from their superiors that they basically threw up their hands and told the drivers, "You're on your own, good luck." Well, not long after one of the drivers brought us in to look into things, we found nearby security footage that caught the whole thing on video. That about cleared things up once and for all.
Maybe something like that is still waiting to be looked into here, or maybe authorities are already working behind the scenes and simply haven't told the public all of the facts. The important thing right now is that the victims and families involved know they're going to get the full story. I just hope they find that out before any crucial evidence becomes unreachable.
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