By Hugh Fisher
hfisher@salisburypost.com
LANDIS ó Two riders on an all-terrain vehicle were seriously injured when the four-wheeler they were driving veered off the edge of a road and crashed through a wooden fence late Friday afternoon.
The accident occurred about 4 p.m. The operator of the four-wheeler, Robert Horton, 22, and his passenger, Britney Miller, 23, were riding on Red Line Road, near N.C. 153.
No one witnessed the accident, but according to people gathered at the scene, Horton appeared to have lost control when the right front wheel ran off the asphalt, aiming the vehicle down a shallow embankment.
The ATV crashed through a wooden fence topped with electric fence wire, coming to rest in a pasture owned by Terry and Lori Sherrill.
Horton sustained a serious laceration on his inner thigh, according to Rebecca Hinson, a friend of the two riders.
Hinson, Horton and Miller were guests at a gathering at the home of David Watkin, who owns the four-wheeler Horton was driving.
Hinson said that she and other guests were gathered at the swimming pool while others had been riding.
“He took off for one last spin and he was coming back,” she said.
Hinson said Miller ran about 200 yards from the crash scene to the Watkin home. “He shielded her, she said, and she rolled off before him,” Hinson said.
“She (Britney) came running up saying ‘He’s hurt, come on,'” Alan Erickson said.
Guests applied first aid until fire and rescue personnel arrived and, seeing the seriousness of Horton’s wound, called for a medical helicopter.
Horton was airlifted from the scene to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.
Those gathered at the scene said his injuries were not expected to be life-threatening.
“He was talking, as much as he could,” Erickson said.
Miller appeared to be alright while at the scene and was transported by ambulance to CMC-NorthEast.
An Atwell Volunteer Fire Department spokesman said Miller was airlifted from NorthEast to CMC in Charlotte.
No information was available from CMC on either Miller or Horton.
Atwell, Enochville Fire and Rescue and Rowan County EMS responded to the accident.