Man gets 8 years in prison for Midlands car crash that killed 81-year-old woman
A Midlands man was sent to prison for eight years in connection with 2019 car crash that killed an 81-year-old woman.
According to a release from the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, 36-year-old Bryan Christopher Powers, of Lexington County, was convicted this week of reckless vehicular homicide in the case. He was sentenced to eight years in the state Department of Corrections.
The wreck reportedly happened just before 6 p.m. on June 14, 2019, along U.S. 178 near Fogle Road in the Pelion area. There was road work going on in that area, and cars were stopped by a flag man. Powers, driving a white truck, slammed into the rear of a stopped vehicle in which Mildred Smith, 81, was an occupant. Smith died at the scene.
The solicitor’s office said a flag man testified that Powers never slowed down before striking the vehicle Smith was in. A state Highway Patrol investigative team concluded Powers was going 63 mph at the point of impact, and that there were no pre-impact skid marks made by Powers’ vehicle.
This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 8:30 AM.
