Man was struck after kneeling in the road, inquest hears

Niki Walker, aged 27 from Strood in Kent, died after being struck by a car on the A4 Bath Road near Half Way, the inquest at Newbury Town Hall was told on Wednesday, December 5.
Mr Walker, a construction worker, had been staying in temporary accommodation in Hungerford while working at junction 14 of the M4.
Mr Walker and three friends, Dave Jenkins, Terry Crowe and Aaron King, had been on a night out in Newbury town centre on the evening of Friday, August 3.
They left the Dolphin pub in Bartholomew Street after 2am on the Saturday (4), returned to the car and drove down the A4 heading back to Hungerford.
All had been drinking, bar the driver Mr Jenkins, and toxicology reports showed that Mr Walker's blood alcohol level was 305mg per 100 ml of blood.
During the drive home a disagreement broke out and, as they approached Half Way, Mr Walker became "hyperactive", started rattling the drivers chair in front of him and trying to open the door to get out of the car.
Mr Jenkins pulled the car over and Mr Walker, got out of the vehicle.
Mr King, who followed him out of the car as he did not want to leave him on his own, said: "I couldn't leave him there because I really needed to calm him down.
"He just told me to leave him alone; he just wouldn't listen."
The other two men in the car continued to drive on but shortly afterwards turned around and drove back to where Mr Walker had left the vehicle.
Mr Jenkins said: "Niki does tend to get argumentative when he has been drinking - that was the case that night."
Mr Crowe said: "He was walking around in the road."
All three of Mr Walker's childhood friends and colleagues who had been in the car with him that night said they then saw him kneel down in the road, almost on his hands and knees.
Mr Jenkins added: "We were trying to persuade him to get out of the road and back in the car but he seemed stubborn."
Mr Walker, who shrugged off attempts by his friends to remove him from the road, was then struck by a grey BMW, driven by Malcolm Hillier, who was on his way to work in Thatcham.
Recording a verdict of misadventure, a Berkshire coroner, Michael Burgess, said: "He probably did not appreciate the danger he was in.
"In doing so he contributed to his death."