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A pedestrian killed on Texas 71 last week is the 89th person killed in Austin traffic this year, adding to a death toll that now exceeds the total for 2019, according to the Austin Police Department.
Just after 6 a.m. on Dec. 18, 35-year-old Jesse Jay Gomez Jr. was in the 3100 block of Texas 71, just east of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Police said witnesses reported seeing Gomez walking toward traffic.
Multiple vehicles swerved to avoid hitting Gomez. The driver of a black 2016 Ford Expedition noticed the vehicles in front of him in the middle lane of the highway veering to the left and moved right, assuming there was a traffic hazard ahead, police said.