Man helping fix pickup on central El Paso street dies when it accidentally rolls forward

EL PASO, Texas -- A man helping a neighbor do automotive work on his pickup truck was killed Wednesday night when police said he was accidentally run over after placing the vehicle into neutral.

Authorities on Thursday identified the victim as Filiberto Beltran and the owner of the pickup as Rafael Casares. Both El Pasoans lived in the 3800 block of Memphis.

The accident, which was initially reported as a case of a truck hitting a pedestrian and causing serious injuries, occurred about 8 p.m. Wednesday.

It happened at the intersection of Lackland Street and Nashville Avenue, near Austin High School in central El Paso.

A police report on the incident said after placing the pickup in neutral, the two men were standing in front of it as they tried to start it from within the engine bay; when they got the truck started, "it jumped into gear and started to roll forward" pushing Beltran to the ground and running him over. Casares was not hurt.

The report lists "failure to properly secure the vehicle" as a key factor in the deadly mishap, but didn't indicate if Casares would be cited.

Beltran's death marked the 25th traffic-related fatality of the year, according to police records. There were 23 such deaths last year at this same time.