OAKLAND TWP — A 58-year-old township man was killed Monday night when the van he was driving slammed into a tree along Center Drive, authorities said.

The crash happened about 7:25 p.m. when Kenneth Earl Pate lost control of his vehicle after hitting a deer, according to Trooper Craig Johnson.

Butler County Deputy Coroner Larry Barr pronounced Pate, a union carpenter, dead at the scene about 8:30 p.m. He died of severe injuries to his head and chest.

An autopsy was not conducted, Barr said, but investigators are awaiting toxicology results from blood tests done as part of standard procedure.

Police said Pate had just left his house and was driving to a friend’s house, headed south in the 800 block of Center Drive, when his 2002 GMC full-sized van hit the deer.

“The deer was hit with enough force that it was thrown into a speed limit sign and took out the sign,” Johnson said.

Police later found the carcass on the side of the road and deer hair all over Center Drive and on the front of Pate’s van.

After hitting the animal, the vehicle went out of control and struck a culvert. The van rolled onto its passenger side and slid into a tree. Pate was wearing a seat belt and the van’s airbags deployed.

Oneida Valley and Chicora volunteer firefighters assisted at the scene. Firefighters had to extricate Pate from his van following the wreck.

Authorities noted the road was wet at the time of the accident but it was not known if that was a factor in the crash.

Johnson said speed has not been ruled out as another possible factor.

The crash closed the road for about three hours.