Pickup truck driver killed in crash with tree identified by Lexington County coroner
One person was killed and another was injured Sunday in a late night crash in Lexington, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
It was the second deadly wreck in Lexington County in little more than a day.
Daniel Peppers died at the scene, Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said. The 55-year-old West Columbia resident was not wearing a seat belt, according to Fisher.
The single-vehicle collision happened at about 10:50 p.m. on Jessamine Road, said Lance Cpl. Nick Pye of Highway Patrol.
Peppers was driving a 2011 Ford pickup truck south on Jessamine Road, according to Pye. When it was near the intersection with Wood Road, the pickup ran off the left side of the road and smashed into a tree, Pye said. That’s in the middle of the area between Interstate 20, Interstate 26, U.S. 1 and U.S. 378.
Information about why the pickup ran off the road was not available.
A passenger in the truck was taken to an area hospital, according to Pye. Further information on the passenger’s condition was not available.
The passenger was wearing a seat belt, Fisher said.
No other injuries were reported.
Another deadly wreck occurred on Saturday in Lexington County.
In the unrelated crash, a Wagener woman was killed, according to Fisher.
Janet Johnson Caulk, 68, died at the scene when the vehicle she was driving west on Ridge Road ran off the side of the road and hit a ditch before flipping over, Fisher said. The wreck happened in the 2300 block of Ridge Road, which is in Leesville in the area between U.S. 1 and U.S. 378.
Caulk was not wearing a seat belt, according to the coroner.
Information about what caused the vehicle to veer off the road was not available, but like Sunday’s crash, it remains under investigation by the Highway Patrol.
Through Thursday, 310 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2022, according to the Department of Public Safety. Last year, 1,192 people died in crashes in South Carolina, DPS reported.
At least 11 people have been killed in Lexington County crashes in 2022, according to DPS. There were 57 deaths there last year, DPS data shows.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
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This story was originally published May 9, 2022 at 8:06 AM.
