Teen girl and truck driver both killed in Lexington County crash, coroner says
A teenager and a truck driver were killed in a crash that sent another person to an area hospital, the Lexington County Coroner’s Office said Monday night.
Paris S. Franklin, a 16-year-old Lexington resident, and Alton Ray Keisler, a 56-year-old from Gilbert, died at the scene of Sunday night’s wreck in West Columbia, Coroner Margaret Fisher said in a news release.
Franklin was a passenger in an SUV that collided with a tractor trailer being driven by Keisler at the intersection of U.S. 1/Augusta Road and 12th Street, according to the release.
The driver of the SUV was injured in the crash and taken to an area hospital, Fisher said. Further information on the driver’s condition was not available.
The multi-vehicle crash happened at about 11:30 p.m., and the busy road was blocked for several hours which affected the Monday morning commute, according to the West Columbia Police Department.
Information about what caused the crash was not available, but police are continuing to investigate.
Franklin was wearing a seat belt, but Keisler was not, Fisher said.
They were among at least six people killed in crashes on Midlands roads Sunday.
Earlier Sunday morning, a 2021 Tesla was driving west on Salem Church Road in Richland County when it ran off the left side of the road and hit a tree before it went up in flames, the Highway Patrol said. Both the driver and a front-seat passenger were killed.
At about 10 a.m., a Polaris side-by-side ATV was driving south in the median of U.S. 301 in Orangeburg County when it overturned into a creek and the driver died, according to the Highway Patrol.
Later that night, at about 10:30 p.m., a motorcycle rider died after crashing into a deer on S.C. 6 in Lexington County, the Highway Patrol said.
Through Sunday, 730 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2022, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Last year, 1,194 people died in crashes in South Carolina, DPS reported.
At least 31 people have died in Lexington County crashes in 2022, DPS reported. Last year, 57 deaths were reported there, according to DPS data.
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