Midlands woman and 3-year-old son killed in crash, 2 other kids hurt, SC cops say
A Midlands woman and her 3-year-old son were killed Saturday in a car crash that left two other children hospitalized, South Carolina officials said.
The single-vehicle collision happened at about 3:30 p.m. on a stretch of S.C. 341 in Kershaw, according to Cpl. Matt Southern of South Carolina Highway Patrol. That’s about 50 miles north of Columbia.
A 2002 Ford Explorer was heading south on S.C. 341 when it ran off the right side of the road and hit an embankment, causing the SUV to flip over before it smashed into a utility pole and tree, Southern said.
The Ford had hydroplaned during the heavy rain, said Lancaster County Coroner Karla Deese.
Heather Martin, a 30-year-old Kershaw resident, and her son died at the scene, according to Deese.
Neither Martin nor the boy, who was one of three kids in the back seat, were wearing seat belts, Southern said. The mother was ejected from the SUV and her son was partially ejected, according to Southern.
Martin’s two other kids were hurt in the wreck, Deese said. They had to be airlifted to a Prisma Health hospital in Richland County, Southern said.
Further information on their conditions was not available. Southern said it’s not known if thsse children were wearing seat belts.
The collision is being investigated by Highway Patrol and the coroner’s office.
Through Friday afternoon, 667 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2020, according to the Department of Public Safety. Of those, 458 of the victims had access to seat belts, but 238 were not wearing them, DPS reported.
These were the 11th and 12th people killed in a Lancaster County crash in 2020, and in eight of those deaths no seat belt was used, according to DPS.
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This story was originally published September 13, 2020 at 8:49 AM.
