A St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office deputy was killed when his motorcycle struck a pickup truck that had been parked in a traffic lane on U.S. 190.

WWL-TV

The driver of the truck was booked with driving while intoxicated and other charges.

Covington Police Lieutenant Jack West says the deputy was identifed as 22-year-old Kerry Snaples. He was en route home from his job at the St. Tammany Parish Jail about 4:20 a.m. Sunday when his 2000 Honda motorcycle crashed into the back of the 1996 Chevy S-10 pickup truck, which was stopped in the middle of the westbound traffic lane.

West says the impact knocked the truck into a side ditch. The truck's tail lights were not on, and he says its dark gold and gray paint would have been difficult to see on the dark highway.

Police are still investigating why 37-year-old James E. Delancey Junior, of Gulfport, Mississippi, had stopped his car. Delancey was booked with vehicular homicide, DWI and driving with a suspended license.

Snaples, of Ponchatoula, had worked as a corrections officer for the sheriff's office since March 2006.

Sunday's crash was the third traffic accident to claim the life of a St. Tammany deputy in the past year.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)