Soldier from East Granby Killed in Bizarre Accident

EAST GRANBY, CT — A U.S. Army soldier from East Granby was killed early Saturday morning under unusual circumstances in Tennessee, according to various media sources in that area.

Austin McGeough, 21, who has been stationed at Fort Campbell on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, was reportedly disoriented from a combination of alcohol and Percocet when he was struck by a car on Highway 41-A in Pleasant View, Tennessee, around 4 a.m. Saturday.

The Tennessean reported a Cheatham County detective as saying McGeough was trying to flag down a car from the center line of the highway when "he leaned out too far" and his knee was struck by an oncoming vehicle, which spun him around and caused his head to strike the vehicle.

After he was felled, he was inadvertently run over by at least two other vehicles, various sources said.

Cheatham County Sheriff Mike Breedlove told WTVF-TV McGeough had broken into the Pleasant View Nursery and Florist around 4 a.m. Saturday morning. A detective said McGeough had reached through a broken window covered in cardboard to unlock the backdoor of the nursery and put his hand through a wasp nest that had been built behind the cardboard, The Tennessean said.

Moments before he died, McGeough had placed a 911 call claiming he was being chased by wasps, but then called back saying he was fine, according to ClarksvilleNOW.com.

McGeough graduated from East Granby High School in 2013 and had been stationed at Fort Campbell since Oct. 2015.

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