Teen killed on scenic highway after she was thrown from car, then pinned underneath, cops say

The road called “America’s Favorite Drive,” was the site of a fatal car crash late Saturday, according to the National Park Service.

A 16-year-old from South Carolina was killed when the car she was a passenger in crashed on a stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway running through Asheville, WSPA reported.

According to the National Park Service’s website, the Blue Ridge Parkway runs through North Carolina and Virginia, and is “a slow-paced and relaxing drive revealing stunning long-range vistas and close-up views of the rugged mountains and pastoral landscapes of the Appalachian Highlands.”

Park rangers said the speed of the car in Saturday’s deadly wreck was an issue, the Citizen-Times reported.

The maximum speed on the picturesque road is 45 mph, and some stretches are 25 mph, according to the Blue Ridge Parkway’s website.

The teenager from Cowpens was a backseat passenger in a car driven by a 21-year-old, per foxcarolina.com. Park rangers reported the driver tried to pass another car in a group of four vehicles, but “lost control ... going around a curve.”

It’s unclear how fast the 21-year-old was driving and what the posted speed limit was on that section of the scenic road.

Park rangers said the car went off the road crashed “about 200 feet down an embankment,” WYFF-4 reported. The 16-year-old was ejected from the car before she was pinned underneath it.

The S.C. teenager died at the scene, park rangers said, according to WSPA.

The wreck happened just before 10:30 p.m. near the French Broad Overlook, per WYFF-4.

The deadly crash is under investigation and charges could be filed, foxcarolina.com reported.