The Department of Public Safety has released the name of a Jefferson County Deputy who was run over and killed as he mowed his lawn.
James Lee, 71, of Hamshire, was at his home on Burrell-Wingate Road, four miles east of State Highway 124, when the DPS says a driver traveling at an unsafe speed while coming around a curve, veered off the road at about 8:15 p.m. Saturday and into a ditch and struck Deputy Lee, who was on a Zero Turn lawnmower. Deputy Lee died at the scene.
According to DPS, the driver who hit Deputy Lee is 38-year-old Michael Miller of Beaumont.
Miller was driving a 2017 Toyota SUV when he hit the deputy, according to the Department of Public Safety.
Paramedics transported Miller to CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth Hospital for treatment.
"We've lost a good guy," Jefferson County Sheriff Zena Stephens told KFDM/Fox 4 News.
The sheriff says Lee was 71-years-old, but she described him as a "superman."
Lee worked in the Sheriff's Office at one time, left, then returned and had been with the Sheriff's Office for more than 20 years, said Stephens.
The sheriff said the deputy worked full-time in the Fugitive Warrant Division.
He was married with one son.
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