Troopers: Truck driver runs stop sign, causes deadly crash in Lincoln County

VALE, N.C. — A deadly crash shut down the intersection of Highway 10 and Highway 18 in Vale at about 7:15 a.m. Monday. Now, state transportation engineers are planning to look at the intersection.

Troopers told Channel 9′s Dave Faherty a pickup truck hauling construction supplies ran a stop sign and hit a work van. The impact caused the van to flip over.

The driver of the van died in the crash, authorities said. Faherty learned the victim, who troopers later identified as 59-year-old Barry Wilson Mckee, of Lawndale, worked in the area. Faherty learned he was the owner of a produce store and was heading to get vegetables when his van was hit.

Faherty got a chance to talk with several workers in the truck who said they were heading to a construction site to build a carport. The driver, Jose Vargas Moreno, spoke about what happened before being arrested by state troopers.

“I tried to stop, I don’t know,” he said. “Brakes didn’t work. Brakes didn’t work properly. I tried to avoid him and he hit me straight, like in the front.”

State troopers said Moreno didn’t mention the brakes to them but they plan on inspecting them.

Vargas was arrested for not having an operator’s license, failing to yield at the stop sign, and misdemeanor death by motor vehicle.

Faherty learned from first responders there have been several wrecks in the same area before, including deadly accidents.

“The accidents don’t happen out here too often but they do they’re on the more serious end,” said Trooper Bradley Beach. “It’s a very dangerous intersection here at (Highway) 10 and (Highway) 18.″

North Carolina Department of Transportation engineers plan to look at the accident report and the five-year crash history at the intersection to see if improvements need to be made there.

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