Elderly Driver Burns to Death Trapped in Knox County Crash

BENJAMIN, TX – Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers are reporting a 72-year-old man burned to death while trapped in his pickup on a dark rural road in Knox County outside of Benjamin Thursday morning.  

According DPS Trooper Marc Couch, Candido Benjamin Uribe, 72, of Benjamin, was driving his 2000 Dodge Dakota without headlights around 6 a.m. on US-82 10 miles west of Benjamin, about an hour north of Abilene.  

At the same time, 43-year-old Kevin Lapaul Beck of Broken Arrow, OK was driving a 2015 Hyundai Genesis SUV.  

The report says Beck was eastbound at a high rate of speed on US-82 when Uribe pulled out of a private drive in front of Beck's vehicle.  Uribe was driving without headlights at a slower rate of speed.  

Beck was unable to control his speed and crashed into the rear of Uribe's vehicle.  Both vehicles caught fire and were fully engulfed.  Beck was able to get out of his vehicle, but Uribe was trapped in the inferno. He was pronounced dead at the scene.