By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A 35-year-old Chilton County man was pronounced dead after his truck left the road and overturned on U.S. 31 in Alabaster shortly after 8 a.m. on Jan. 13, according to the Alabaster Police Department.

The Police Department was forced to close the northbound lanes of U.S. 31 after the crash, which happened near the Cannon Oil gas station slightly south of the Shelby County Instructional Services Center.

Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney said the victim, who was the only occupant in the truck, was suffering from a medical condition – likely a heart attack – before the crash occurred a few miles south of Shelby Baptist Medical Center.

Deputy Shelby County Coroner Lina Rodriguez identified the man as 35-year-old Jemison resident Perry Horton, and said the coroner’s office is still attempting to determine the victim’s cause of death.

“He wasn’t deceased upon impact. There were some medical complications, and he is undergoing an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death,” Rodriguez said during a Jan. 16 phone interview.

No other vehicles were involved in the wreck, and no other injuries were reported in the incident.