Driver accidentally runs over sister, man on Fourth of July

It’s an Independence Day celebration gone horribly wrong. Six friends were returning from Lake Travis inside a pickup truck, carrying a boat on SH-45 Eastbound Tuesday morning.

“There was a male and female in the back seat of the truck, they started to argue,” said Patricia Gutierrez, spokesperson, Williamson County Sheriff’s Office.

The driver, Joe Harvey, decided to pull over on the shoulder of the highway when things escalated between the two arguing in the back. The three got out of the car. 

Harvey tried to calm the two down, but it didn't work. He ended up getting back in the driver seat.

“He did not realize the doors were open, and this is when the male and female were still outside, and he knocked them down. Whenever he took off, he ran over them,” said Gutierrez.

Tires from the truck and the boat ran over the woman, identified as Heather Harvey, the driver's sister, and the unidentified man. “Heather Harvey unfortunately is in I.C.U and was transported to the hospital with internal injuries,” said Gutierrez.

The man she was arguing with was pronounced dead on scene.

Investigators say the driver, Joe Harvey will not be facing charges.

Authorities say, it was just a terrible accident. “They were planning on going back out there today to keep celebrating Fourth of July, so it's just a tragedy,” said Gutierrez.

Investigators say the driver, Joe Harvey, was not intoxicated .