A businessman and grandfather from Silver Creek was killed in a single-vehicle crash in Alabama over the weekend, according to several media reports.

James Harold Hillis Jr., 61, died after the 1999 Mack tractor-trailer he was driving ran off I-59 in DeKalb County, Ala., and struck a ditch before overturning and catching on fire, Huntsville, Ala.,-based news station WAFF reported.

The wreck happened Saturday just before 3:45 p.m. Hillis was pronounced dead by Alabama state troopers at the scene, the news station reported.

According to his obituary in the Rome News-Tribune, he was born at Fort Benning and attended the University of Arkansas. Hillis owned and operated Hillis Outdoor Specialist Inc. in Floyd County.

His funeral is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in Rome.

In other news:

Police have released bodycam video of??a dramatic police shooting that left a man dead in Athens.??The man, identified as 23-year-old Aaron Hong,??was killed and one officer was injured.??

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Tracy Woodard from InTown Cares (left) and Lauren Hopper from Mercy Care organization work with residents at the Copperton Street encampment in August 2024. 
(Miguel Martinez / AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez