Midlands man killed when truck hits guard rail and flips, SC coroner says

A Midlands man was killed in a crash when the pickup truck he was driving hit a guard rail and flipped over, South Carolina officials said Wednesday.

Stefon Gaither, a 59-year-old Winnsboro resident, died in an accident Tuesday, Fairfield County Coroner Chris Hill said.

The single-vehicle collision happened at about 5:35 p.m. in the Winnsboro area on Newberry Road, according to Cpl. Joe Hovis of South Carolina Highway Patrol.

Gaither was driving a Ford pickup truck west on Newberry Road when he lost control and crashed into a guardrail, Hill said.

The truck then flipped over and Gaither, who was not wearing a seat belt, was entrapped, according to Hovis. Gaither had to be mechanically extracted from the truck before he was taken to MUSC Health Fairfield Emergency, where he died, Hovis said.

No other injuries were reported.

Information on what caused Gaither to lose control of the truck was not available, but the collision continues to be investigated by Highway Patrol and the coroner’s office.

Through Tuesday, 10 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2022, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Of those, seven of the victims had access to seat belts, but five were not wearing them, DPS reported.

Last year, 1,097 people died in crashes in South Carolina, and 655 had access to seat belts but were not wearing safety restraints, DPS data shows.

This is the first person to have been killed in a Fairfiled County crash in 2022, according to DPS.

This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 8:25 AM.

Noah Feit

The State

803-771-8435

Noah Feit is a Real Time reporter with The State focused on breaking news, public safety and trending news. The award-winning journalist has worked for multiple newspapers since starting his career in 1999. Support my work with a digital subscription