A retired Oklahoma lumberman was killed when his vehicle struck a pack of feral hogs and rolled on top of him.
Roger Gregory Cummings, 63, of Marlow, had marked two milestones just weeks before the crash: his 40th wedding anniversary with his wife, Soyna, and his retirement from Marlow Lumber Company after more than four decades on the job. The fatal collision came late Wednesday night in Stephens County, roughly 90 miles south of Oklahoma City, according to a collision report.
Cummings was not wearing a seatbelt when he hit the sounder of pigs, swerved into a ditch, and collided with a fence. As he tried to steer out of the situation, the vehicle kept rolling along the fencing, threw him from the driver’s seat, and came to rest on its side with him pinned underneath. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Barbara Johnson, who owns Marlow Lumber Company, recalled Cummings as deeply embedded in the workplace culture she oversees. “Part of our family here,” Johnson said. She learned of the crash when she spotted an ambulance heading to the rural site around 9:30 a.m. Thursday, roughly hours after it occurred. Johnson speculated that the wreck went unseen through the night because of the darkness and the location’s obscured position beyond city limits.
“We are all shocked and saddened by the news and our thoughts are with his wife and son,” Johnson told the publication.
Johnson added that wildlife encounters are routine for residents in the area, though lethal outcomes remain uncommon. “People hit wildlife all the time, but we don’t get fatalities often,” she said.
The Oklahoma Wildlife Department has documented feral swine in 70 of the state’s 77 counties, with the animals clustering in large nighttime groups known as “sounders.” Southern Oklahoma sees the heaviest concentrations, and the hogs are most active after dark — the same conditions Cummings faced on the road.
Cummings’ death underscores the widening hazard that feral pig populations pose across the Sooner State, where the invasive species continues to expand its territory and nocturnal movement patterns put rural drivers at elevated risk during overnight hours.