Coroner identifies driver killed after dump truck’s bed smashes into bridge on highway
One man is dead after a Wednesday morning collision when a dump truck crashed into a bridge, South Carolina Highway Patrol said.
The 2007 Freightliner dump truck’s bed was extended in the up position when it smashed into an overpass on S.C. 125, Lance Cpl. Tyler Tidwell said.
The dump truck flipped after hitting the overpass on the highway also called Atomic Road, Aiken County Coroner Darryl Ables said in a news release.
Ables identified the driver as Relferd R. Lanier Jr., a 60-year-old from Warrenville.
The wreck occurred shortly after 5:30 a.m. as the truck was heading west on U.S. 278, just outside of Beech Island, according to Tidwell. That’s about 70 miles southwest of Columbia.
Lanier was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the dump truck in the single-vehicle collision, Highway Patrol reported.
After being transported to an area hospital by emergency responders Lanier died at about 10:15 a.m., Ables said.
An autopsy has been scheduled for Friday in Newberry, according to the coroner’s office.
No other injuries were reported.
The crash remains under investigation by Highway Patrol.
Less than a month into 2020, 45 people have died on South Carolina roads, according to the Department of Public Safety. Of those deaths, 32 of the victims had access to seat belts, and 18 were not wearing safety restraints, DPS said.
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This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 12:24 PM.
