ROCK HILL — Friday was a deadly day, with four area residents dying in traffic accidents in North and South Carolina.
According to the Rock Hill Herald, Kevin Smith, 48, of Salisbury and Tracy Cates, 42, of Rockwell died Friday morning when the commercial tractor-trailer Smith was driving ran off the right side of the southbound lane of Interstate 77, just south of S.C. 901 in York County.
The interstate was blocked for much of the day Friday after the accident. The big rig struck a stand of trees down an embankment near mile marker 72 at about 5:45 a.m., Lance Cpl. Billy Elder with the Highway Patrol told the Rock Hill Herald.
The York County Coroner’s Office identified the driver as Smith and his passenger as Cates. They were pronounced dead on the scene as a result of injuries from the accident, Coroner Sabrina Gast told the newspaper.
Also killed Friday was Jennifer Fesperman, 32, of Rockwell, a passenger in a southbound minivan on U.S. 52. The crash occurred about 4:15 a.m. in Albemarle at an intersection where traffic lights were malfunctioning due to the storm.
Braydon Harding, 19, of Kannapolis died late Friday night in Myrtle Beach when the car he was riding in was hit by a vehicle that ran a red light.