A pedestrian was hit and killed by an 18-wheeler on Sparta Highway early Wednesday morning.

Tennessee Highway patrolman Andrew Coppinger identified the man as Bobby Baker, 53. He was killed while walking on the inbound lane of the highway in the area of Old Rock Island Road.

“Mr. Baker was a Sparta resident,” said Coppinger. “What we know at this time is he was at Saint Thomas River Park Hospital for treatment of some medical issues. He was discharged and was walking toward Sparta. He was in the lane of travel.”

Baker was struck by a tractor trailer driven by Georgia resident Michael Bradford, 42. He was driving for Noble LLC out of Alabama.

“The tractor trailer was heading inbound on U.S. 70 South,” said Coppinger. “He was hauling metal roofing. He was in the slow lane, lane number two. The pedestrian was standing in the roadway.”

The incident occurred at approximately 4:45 a.m.

“I hate to be blunt, but it is pretty cut and dry on what happened,” said Coppinger. “Mr. Baker clearly shouldn’t have been in the roadway. We’ll never know why he was. We also don’t know why he decided to walk to Sparta.”