Man Killed After Stepping Into Traffic On Front Street

By Patrick Sullivan | Nov. 26, 2019

A man who’d been forced by police to leave a bar an hour earlier stepped out in front of traffic and was killed Saturday in downtown Traverse City.

A pickup truck struck Mark Anthony Smith after he stepped into a westbound lane of Front Street near Barlow Street, says Traverse City Police Chief Jeff O’Brien. Smith was not in a crosswalk when he was struck. The 42-year-old Cadillac man was taken to Munson Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

O’Brien says investigators believe Smith was under the influence of alcohol prior to the crash, which happened at just before 7pm Saturday.

Officers had come into contact with him an hour earlier after he put his arms around a pregnant woman at the State Street Market, a few blocks away. Police were called and removed him from the building after determining no one wanted to press charges.

The driver who struck Smith, a 61-year-old Rapid City man, had not been drinking and there was no evidence he was speeding. He was not cited in the incident.

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