By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
CLEVELAND — The man killed in a single-car wreck on Mountain Road Thursday evening was not wearing a seat belt and was driving without a license, a crash investigator said today.
N.C. State Highway Patrol Trooper C.J. Doty confirmed the victim was 39-year-old Michael Edward Myers.
Myers wrecked his Toyota coupe in the front yard of his parents’ home at 2050 Mountain Road around 5 p.m. Thursday. He apparently hit a tree in the yard and was thrown from the car. No other vehicles were involved.
The top of the car was crushed into the passenger compartment. A wheel and other parts littered the grass and roadway.
Neighbor Freddie Rodriguez Jr. said he heard the collision.
“We heard a big, just boom,” he said. “At first we came up to the window to see what was going on, but we didn’t see anything.”
Rodriguez said he then saw lights flashing outside.
“Then we saw all of the police cars and came outside,” he said.
Cleveland Police and Fire departments and the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office responded to the wreck along with emergency medical personnel.
N.C. Department of Correction records show Myers was convicted of driving while impaired in Iredell County in 2008 and driving while license revoked in Rowan County in 2010.