FRIDAY, 6AM:
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POLICE are yet to lay charges against the 34-year-old driver of a white utility involved in a fatal accident in Lucknow on Tuesday night.
The man was found asleep in a tractor on Beasley Road on Wednesday afternoon.
It is believed he had made a bed of hay in the cabin of the tractor, and investigators have seized several items from the site for forensic examination.
Following his arrest the man was taken to Orange police station and then to Orange hospital for treatment of a suspected fractured sternum.
On Thursday afternoon he was still in Orange hospital in a stable condition.
The man was wanted in relation to a fatal car crash on Tuesday night in which a 75-year-old Millthorpe man, identified as Mirko Barbaric, was killed.
Police say Mr Barbaric was heading east on the Mitchell Highway, near Lucknow, when the utility, travelling in the opposite direction, crossed to the wrong side of the road and hit him.
Witnesses at the accident scene on Tuesday night told police the driver seemed confused and dazed after leaving his vehicle, which had flipped onto its roof.
He left the scene a few minutes after the accident and reportedly told one witness he was looking for his dog.
Police have renewed their appeal for anyone who witnessed the incident, or has information that may assist investigators, to contact Orange police on 02 6363 6399.
Police are preparing a report for the coroner outlining the circumstances of the man’s death.
THURSDAY, 6AM:
ABOUT 3.30pm on Wednesday police were called to a property on Beasley Road near Lucknow when a resident found a man matching the description of the missing driver asleep in a tractor.
The man, who was reported to be barefoot, wandered away from the property, but was picked up by police a short distance away.
It is believed he spent the night in the tractor.
The man was taken to Orange Police Station and then to Orange Hospital for treatment of a suspected fractured sternum.
Investigators seized several items for forensic examination and released the man pending further inquiries.
He was wanted in relation to a fatal car crash on Tuesday night in which a 75-year-old Millthorpe man, identified as Mirko Barbaric, was killed.
Witnesses at the accident scene on Tuesday night told police the driver, a man in his 30s, seemed confused and dazed after exiting his vehicle, a white utility, which had flipped onto its roof.
He left the scene a few minutes after the accident.
Police say the elderly man was heading east on the Mitchell Highway, near Lucknow, when the utility, travelling in the opposite direction, crossed to the wrong side of the road and hit him.
Canobolas Local Area Command Inspector Dave Harvey said the driver of the ute may have known the fate of the other driver before he walked away from the area.
On Tuesday night emergency services spent several hours searching for the man in the area around the crash site and returned to the area yesterday morning to resume the search before PolAir joined them around lunchtime.
Inspector Harvey said police, who knew the man’s identity, had also doorknocked addresses in Orange in an effort to track him down.
tracey.prisk@fairfaxmedia.com.au