Three killed in overnight crash on Richland County road, SC Highway Patrol says
Three people were killed in an overnight crash in Richland County, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
The driver and two passengers in a Dodge Ram died after the pickup truck hit a tree, Master Trooper Brian Lee said Sunday.
The three men identified in the wreck were Tomas Walker, 22, and Nelson Spain Jr., 23, of Swansea and Darrius Pringle, 22, of Columbia. Spain Jr. was in the backseat of the vehicle. None of the three people in the truck was wearing a seat belt, according to Lee.
The single-vehicle collision happened about 2 a.m. near the intersection of U.S. 1 (Two Notch Road) and Grampian Hills Road, according to Lee. That’s less than a block from Exit 17 on Interstate 77, in an area of Columbia that is densely packed with retail businesses and restaurants.
The 2004 Dodge Ram Crew Cab was northbound on Two Notch Road wen it crashed into multiple trees coming to a stop on the edge of the wood line. All three were all pronounced dead at the scene.
Information on what caused the truck to veer off the road was not available. The crash remains under investigation by Highway Patrol and the coroner’s office.
Prior to the wreck, 513 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2020, according to the Department of Public Safety. Of those, 355 of the victims had access to seat belts, but 198 were not wearing them, DPS reported.
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This story was originally published July 26, 2020 at 8:52 AM.
