Truck driver dies a day after fiery crash on Midlands road, SC coroner says
A Midlands man died a day after the pickup truck he was driving crashed into trees and went up in flames, the Kershaw County Coroner’s Office said Sunday.
Robert Steven Schwartz died Saturday at the JMS Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia, Coroner David West said in a news release.
The 44-year-old from the Cassatt area was involved in a single-vehicle collision Friday night, according to the release.
At about 9:15 p.m., first responders received a 911 call about a crash on a dirt portion of Thoroughfare Branch Road, West said. That’s in Cassatt, near U.S. 1.
Schwartz was driving west in a Chevrolet truck when he lost control and hit the trees, according to the release.
The truck caught fire, and Schwartz was pulled from the wreckage by some passersby who came upon the fiery crash, West said.
Schwartz was airlifted to the Augusta hospital where he died Saturday afternoon, according to the release.
No other injuries were reported.
There was no word if Schwartz wore a seat belt.
Information about what caused the truck to veer off the dirt road was not available.
Through Friday, 117 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2022, according to the Department of Public Safety. Last year, 1,149 people died in crashes in South Carolina, DPS reported.
At least three people have been killed in Kershaw County crashes in 2022, while 23 died last year, according to DPS.
This year’s toll includes a Feb. 13 wreck in which two people died at the scene and a third person was airlifted to Prisma Health Richland hospital after a single-vehicle collision on U.S. 521, near the intersection with Knotty Pine Drive. That crash also involved a vehicle hitting trees.
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This story was originally published February 27, 2022 at 11:31 AM.
