Hancock wrecked days before fatal crash

~ The pitcher had a potentially serious accident early Thursday.

SAUGET, Ill. -- Just three days before his death in a freeway wreck, the sport utility vehicle of Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock was clipped by a semi rig in what police said could have been a far more serious accident.

Officers who talked with Hancock moments after the predawn crash last Thursday in Sauget -- a St. Louis suburb known for factories and strip clubs -- found the 29-year-old reliever lucid and not under the influence of alcohol, Police Chief Patrick Delaney said Tuesday.

No sobriety or breath tests were given to Hancock, and no tickets were issued, according to Delaney.

Hancock was killed Sunday in St. Louis when his rental SUV slammed into a flatbed tow truck on Interstate 64. Autopsy results have not been released, and toxicology tests are pending.

In Sauget, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Hancock was at a stop sign about 5:30 a.m Thursday when he inched his vehicle out a bit into the intersection, presumably to see around big trucks and other vehicles that frequently park near there, Delaney said.

A passing tractor-trailer traveling around the posted speed limit of 45 mph clipped Hancock's vehicle and sheered off the front bumper, the chief said. Neither Hancock nor the trucker, 33-year-old Richard Lehn of Keyesport, Ill., was injured.

"If he would have inched up another inch and that truck would have hit, it would have been much more serious accident," Delaney said.

The accident happened on Illinois Route 3 off Yellow Brick Road, named for its proximity to the Oz nightclub. The intersection is also near a liquor store and small-scale truck stop.

There was no indication Hancock had been drinking or appeared intoxicated, and managers of Oz told police Hancock had not been at that club that night, Delaney said.

"The officers said they felt Josh was not impaired whatsoever," the chief said, noting Hancock did not get preferential police treatment as a Cardinal because the responding officer "didn't know Josh Hancock from John Doe."

A message left at Lehn's home Tuesday was not immediately returned.

Hancock wanted to drive his vehicle home from the Sauget police station but could not because the accident damaged its radiator. While waiting for a cab that eventually took him home, Delaney said, Hancock told another officer he hated following a Cardinals night game with a daytime one, and that he routinely drove around to make himself tired enough to rest, the chief said.

"He said how he hated -- he used that word -- to play day games after a night game, that he had trouble sleeping and was out driving around," Delaney said.

Hours later, Hancock showed up late at Busch Stadium for a day game against the Cincinnati Reds. He insisted he thought the starting time was later and had overslept in a new bed.

A memorial service for Hancock is set for Thursday in Tupelo, Miss. The Cardinals are chartering a plane that will get them there in time for a lunch with the Hancock family.