PAGELAND, S.C. — The South Carolina Highway Patrol is investigating a deadly crash outside Pageland Friday morning.
When state troopers and firefighters arrived on scene at Highway 207 and Dudley Road, they found 42-year-old Todd Chambers, dead in his car. His badly-damaged Honda was off the road, sideways in a driveway.
The other car involved, a red Hyundai Elantra, was still in the roadway, but the driver and passenger were gone.
Truck driver David Driesbach was driving by just after the 4 a.m. accident, and was the first to call 911. He was flagged down by a man in another car, who flashed his lights at him. He got out of his truck and saw a terrible scene.
“I noticed a black car in a driveway with the taillights out, and a red car in the oncoming lane with the front end gone,” Driesbach said.
Troopers said Chambers failed to yield the right of way, and pulled out from Dudley Road onto the highway. He was T-boned by the oncoming Hyundai.
The incident was initially reported as a hit and run, because when emergency crews arrived, the 48-year-old driver who was not at fault, and 49-year-old passenger had left. The man who flagged down Driesbach had taken them to the hospital.
He said he tried to convince them to stay and wait on police since they didn’t look badly hurt.
“I told him that I’d already spoken with 911 and that police and emergency were on the way. The gentleman said he was taking them to the hospital,” Driesbach said.
He saw them go to the trunk of their severely damaged car and pull some bags out of the trunk before leaving.
The highway patrol told Channel 9 that the driver who was not at fault in the crash will not face charges for leaving the scene of an accident. Troopers said that’s because they did go to a hospital for medical treatment.
It’s not clear if the driver or passenger involved in the wreck called 911 themselves before leaving.
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