A Fort Stewart noncommissioned officer with a wife and three children was killed Monday when the bicycle he was riding on Highway 119 was hit by a car.
Sgt. First Class Augosto Pineiro, 38, was on post near Gate 5 around 7 a.m. when his bicycle was hit by a 2012 Toyota Prius driven by Kandace Brown of Ellabell, according to Georgia State Patrol Tooper Jamie Quinn.
Brown, who was driving to work, stayed with Pineiro and flagged down help, according to the GSP. That help, an off-duty Army medic, also stayed with Pineiro until EMS arrived.
Pineiro was taken by EMS to Winn Army Community Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Pinero was a record setting NCO who broke the 100-mile gas mask run record in 2016, when he ran for 37.5 hours during an event in South Carolina to raise awareness for Operation Enduring Warrior, according to Army Times.
As a runner for Operation Enduring Warrior’s Masked Athlete Team, Pineiro was known as “Unbreakable,” the Army Times reported in 2016.
Pineiro was a combat engineer assigned to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
He served in the Army for more than 15 years and was assigned to Fort Stewart for the past 30 months. He deployed four times, most recently returning from a deployment in September 2012.
According to a story on the U.S. Army website, Pineiro said he was in “at least eight (improvised explosive device) blasts and lost six of my guys,” and began running while in Afghanistan to escape.
“My involvement with Operation Enduring Warrior has taught me that we can all achieve our goals, regardless of the obstacles we may have to overcome,” Piñeiro told the Army in May 2016. “I want to be an example of this for wounded warriors who may be feeling helpless.”
The accident is under investigation, the GSP said.