Affidavit: Man charged in hit-and-run death of Copperas Cove man believed he hit ‘trash bag’ and kept driving
Suspect encountered police investigation road block on way back home, decided to turn around and take alternate route: affidavit
CORYELL COUNTY, Texas (KWTX) - The man charged in the hit-and-run death of a Central Texas motorcyclist decided not to stop because he thought he had struck a trash bag, drove by the scene of the deadly accident on his way back home, and then decided to take an alternate route home instead of getting down to speak with investigators, an arrest warrant states.
Troopers with the Texas Dept. of Public Safety on Dec. 31, 2025, announced the arrest of Russell Allan Meier, 86, of Copperas Cove, in the deadly hit-and-run.
Benny Ray Manning, 63, of Copperas Cove, was fatally struck at about 5 p.m. on Dec. 26 at Bea Powell Road and Grimes Crossing, DPS said.
Troopers reportedly discovered evidence indicating the motorcycle may have been struck by another vehicle, causing the crash.
On Dec. 27, police pulled over the driver of a white 2015 Dodge Ram pickup with damage to its front end “that possibly matched the evidence left by the vehicle at the scene of the crash,” the warrant states. The driver of the truck is identified in the arrest warrant as Meier.
An investigator later matched evidence collected at the scene of the deadly crash to the Dodge Ram pickup driven by Meier, the arrest warrant states.
According to the arrest warrant, at the scene of the crash, investigators collected white paint and portions of a damaged headlamp.
Meier’s Dodge pickup, according to the warrant, also had “a black bug reflector on the grill that was broken” and its “broken pieces were found at the scene of the crash.”
Furthermore, a piece of fiber stuck to the front grill of the Dodge was the same color of the t-shirt Manning was wearing when he was struck and killed, investigators said.
During an interview, Meier stated he was traveling from his residence in Copperas Cove to Kempner along Bea Powell Road sometime between 4 and 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 26.
Meier said he was driving about 30 to 35 miles per hour when he felt the impact of his pickup striking “something.”
Meier told investigators he looked in the rearview mirror and saw what looked like a “black trash bag” so he continued driving. When he arrived in Kempner, Meier assessed the damage to his pickup and “thought that there was something very heavy inside the bag he must have hit,” the warrant states.
On his way back home to Copperas Cove, Meier came upon a road block on Bea Powell Road as police and deputies investigated Manning’s death. Meier was told by an individual at the scene that a motorcyclist had been struck and decided to take an alternate route back home, the arrest warrant warrant states.
According to the document, Meier remained adamant during his interviews that he did not see anybody lying on the roadway. He also acknowledged he should have visited the police department the day he struck “something” on the road.
Meier is charged with failure to stop and render aid during a collision involving death, a second-degree felony.
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