A 65-year-old Billings man died Sunday evening after a possible medical episode sent his vehicle off Oklahoma State Highway 74 and through two open fields before it struck a fence in rural Garfield County. The driver was identified as Steven Nightengale, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Nightengale was driving south on Highway 74 at about 6 p.m. on October 4 when he had a possible medical episode, according to KOCO. The episode caused him to run off the road to the left, and his vehicle traveled through two fields for about 570 feet before crashing into a fence near East Keowee Road, an area west of Billings and north of Garber. Medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Nightengale was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash. No official medical examiner report on the cause of death has been made public, and the exact nature of the medical episode remains unconfirmed.
Remembering a Longtime TORO Employee
An obituary posted on Legacy.com states that Steven Ray Nightengale passed away on October 5, 2026, one day after the crash. He was born August 5, 1961, in Enid, Oklahoma, and was 65 years old at the time of his death.
According to the obituary, Nightengale had spent the past 18 years working at TORO in Perry, Oklahoma, a company formerly known as Ditch Witch. He was remembered as a resident of Billings in the notice shared with family and friends.
A Recurring Pattern on Oklahoma Roads
Nightengale's death echoes another case from December 2025, when a woman died after a crash and possible medical episode in west Oklahoma City, according to KOCO. In that case, the woman may have experienced a medical episode after the crash.
Authorities have not released additional details about the circumstances surrounding Nightengale's medical episode or confirmed the official cause of death. The crash remains one of the latest examples of a driver losing control after what investigators describe only as a possible medical emergency.
