By Kelsey Givens

A 36-year-old man was fatally injured after reportedly being run over by a motor vehicle in the area of Linda and Morgan streets Friday evening.

Paul Navarro of Pahrump was reportedly lying on the roadway around 10 p.m. when an oncoming vehicle, whose driver couldn’t see him, apparently struck and killed Navarro.

Both Nye County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Pahrump Valley Fire Rescue Services were initially dispatched to the scene for a report of a motor vehicle versus pedestrian accident.

Fire Chief Scott Lewis said PVFRS medics were canceled shortly after being dispatched because Navarro was pronounced deceased at the scene and medical services were no longer needed.

A single fire engine did proceed to the area though to help with scene control, he said.

The 22-year-old driver of the vehicle that struck Navarro was apparently unable to see the man in the road due to how dark it was outside at that time of night.

Medical Examiner Dr. Rexene Worrell, who examined Navarro after the incident, said the man suffered massive injuries to his head and other blunt force injuries to the body as well.

His cause of death was determined to be “cranial cerebral injuries due to auto-pedestrian.”

Capt. Bill Becht said police are still investigating why Navarro was lying in the roadway just before the accident.

It is unknown at this time if Navarro was under the influence of alcohol or any other substances at the time of the incident as toxicology results will take several weeks to be returned.

Local TV news personality Deanna O’Donnell and Jason Coblentz were outside with a new puppy Friday night when the accident occurred only several hundred feet from where they stood.

“We were standing outside … and we heard a thud … and some screeching noise like they were skidding, and I said, ‘that’s an accident,’ so we decided to hurry up and see if we could render some aid, because I’m CPR certified. But when we got there, you could already see there were some remains in the roadway, and you could already tell at that point there was nothing that we could do,” O’Donnell said. “I was very, extremely upset at the time because we had actually heard him get hit.

“Very upsetting for the family, very upsetting for the people in the car who struck him because it is something that you can never forget. I keep hearing the sound in my head. No matter how many times you see something like that, it’s so horrible to actually hear a person die.”

Coblentz said he had similar feelings after the incident.

“It was rather horrific, you know, very disheartening, very hard to look at and film. It’s difficult to even find the words of how bad it was,” he said.

Those who knew Navarro, an inactive Marine, said he was a kind man and talented musician who loved his country.

Dan Navarro, Paul’s brother, said the accident came as a complete shock to him and his family.

“It was definitely nothing we had expected at all. My parents saw him that day and I live in Colorado, but I got the call late, you know, 3 a.m. is when I got the call,” he said. “My brother, he was just a really nice, funny, sociable person, very charismatic, very kind, you know, really wasn’t a mean person, just really lived a simple life here with my parents.”

His brother said the victim liked music and writing his own songs.

Eerily, a social networking site that Paul had created earlier this year showed his screen name as “deadman76.” It also listed one of his biggest fears as dying alone.

Pastor Ron Fairbairn of Central Valley Baptist Church, who knew Paul through his parents, members of the church, said the man was simply a very talented musician and serviceman.

A celebration of life is scheduled to be held today at noon at the church, located at 3170 S. Blagg Road. A potluck fellowship will follow.