Matthew Greer was just trying to get across the street on an ordinary Wednesday evening in Johnson City. The 40-year-old Erwin resident stepped onto West Market Street near Hopper Road right around 8:50 p.m. Moments later, a pickup truck hit him in the middle of the road.
First responders rushed to the scene after callers reported a pedestrian down. Medics loaded Greer into an ambulance and hurried him over to the nearest hospital. Doctors tried to save him, but he died shortly after arrival.
Friends and neighbors back home in Erwin knew Greer as a familiar face around Washington and Unicoi counties. His sudden death left folk in the small town stunned, trying to make sense of how a routine night turned fatal so quickly.
That stretch of West Market Street gets plenty of local traffic, even late into the evening. Crossing near Hopper Road means dealing with dimly lit lanes and vehicles moving at full road speed.
Greer’s death has hit his family and hometown hard. People across Erwin spent Thursday sharing quiet memories of a man whose life ended way too soon on a roadside just a few miles from home.
Investigators from the Johnson City Police Department spent hours working the crash site. They blocked off the roadway, measured skid marks, and mapped out the exact path the pickup truck took before the collision.
For now, those who knew Matthew Greer are left dealing with the shock. Funeral plans remain pending as his family prepares to say their final goodbyes in Erwin.
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