By Kathy Chaffin
kchaffin@salisburypost.com
ROCKWELL ó A 19-year-old was killed Thursday night after losing control of a four-wheeler on Reid Road.
Nathan Sawyer Kepley, of 424 School St., was pronounced dead at the scene after the four-wheeler he was on overturned and hit a tree. Trooper D.R. Morgan of the N.C. Highway Patrol said Kepley was driving the four-wheeler down a hill on the road when he lost control in a curve and ran off the road.
Kepley was not wearing a helmet. “He was probably going faster than he should have been around the curve,” Morgan said, “too fast for conditions. The road was wet.”
A passerby saw the overturned four-wheeler and called the Rowan 911 Center at 8:05 p.m.
Morgan said the caller reported Kepley was not moving when she arrived on the accident scene.
There were no houses near where the accident happened.
The Rockwell Rural Fire Department responded to the scene along with Rowan Rescue, EMS and the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.
This was the second fatality in Rowan County in two days.
Seventeen-year-old Joe Hampton of Foster Road in Cleveland was killed Wednesday afternoon when he lost control of his truck and hit a tree on Woodleaf-Barber Road. For complete details, see his obituary on Page 2C.
Contact Kathy Chaffin at 704-797-4249.