??SALISBURY – Two drivers walked away from a two-vehicle collision Wednesday morning at the intersection of West Ridge Road and U.S. 601, in front of Franklin Service Garage & Towing.
Daniel Davis, 22, of Mount Pleasant, S.C., was traveling north on U.S. 601 heading toward Mocksville.
The Catawba College football player had just left class and was heading home, he said.
A water bottle rolled under Davis’ feet, and he reached down to pick it up. When he looked up again, it was too late and he hit a trailer and a pickup driven by David Overcash, 61, of Salisbury.
Overcash, owner of Outdoors By Overcash, a lawn mowing business, was turning left onto West Ridge Road when he was hit from behind.
Davis’ 1991 Jeep Cherokee overturned and came to rest on its roof. He punched through a broken window and was able to get out of the vehicle, he said.
The collision occurred at 9:11 a.m.
N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper S.B. Marshall charged Davis with failure to reduce speed before colliding with a motor vehicle.
Overcash said he pulled his 1997 Chevrolet S-10 truck off the roadway and got out to check on Davis. Before Overcash could get to Davis, the student had already gotten himself out of his sport-utility vehicle.
“I can’t believe he crawled out of that vehicle,” Overcash said.
There were no passengers in either vehicle and no other vehicles involved.
Both men were wearing seatbelts, and neither was injured. Trooper Marshall said both men refused an ambulance that arrived at the scene.
Overcash believes the mowing business he’s run for 13 years is “essentially over right now,” he said. The two lawn mowers he was towing on a trailer were totaled, he said, and the frame of his pickup was bent.
Still, Overcash said he was grateful that everyone was able to walk away from what could have been a horrific accident. The Salisbury man stopped Davis as he walked toward a friend’s vehicle and shook Davis’ hand.
“I’m glad that no one got hurt,” Overcash said.
Davis, who still seemed a little shaken nearly an hour after the collision, said what happened was scary.
Customers at the Franklin Service Garage getting repair work waited as a garage employee towed the SUV and trailer around to the side of the shop at 4520 U.S. 601, beside Village Grocery.
Traffic was detoured for nearly an hour before the vehicles were towed and the road cleared.
In addition to the Highway Patrol, the Franklin Fire Department, Rowan County Rescue Squad and Rowan County EMS responded. The N.C. Department of Transportation was already in the area and was called in to assist with traffic control, said Franklin firefighter Darrell Spry.
Contact reporter Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.