Tammy Grubb
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
(TNS)
Three people were killed and a 2 year-old girl was hospitalized after a Tuesday crash on N.C. 86, north of Hillsborough.
The toddler is in stable condition and being kept at Duke University Hospital for observation, Highway Patrol spokesman Trooper Brian Martin said.
A DukeHealth spokeswoman said the hospital does not publicly release the condition of pediatric patients.
Orange Rural Fire Department responded to the crash around 4:48 p.m. Tuesday in the 2300 block of N.C. 86 and found the victims trapped inside a 2011 Chrysler Town & Country minivan.
The van’s driver, Francesina Alveta Whitted, 57, of Durham, struck a tree after she crossed the center line and ran off the left side of the road, according to a Highway Patrol news release.
Whitted and a passenger, 31-year-old Ayesha Tyshell Edwards, of Mebane, were killed in the crash, it said.
A male victim still has not been identified, Martin said Wednesday. He was found in the back seat and was not wearing a seatbelt, Martin said. The women were wearing seatbelts, and the child was in a safety seat, he said.
The Highway Patrol mistakenly identified the third victim on Tuesday as a man from Hillsborough. Friends of the man told The News & Observer in text messages and phone calls Wednesday that he was in the car, but had gotten out before the crash.
A different, third victim was identified Wednesday, but his name is not yet being released, Martin said in an email update. The N.C. Medical Examiner’s Office is verifying the victim’s identity, which could take “a day or two,” he said in a follow-up call with The N&O.
“It was a pretty horrific crash,” Martin said.
Firefighters used the Jaws of Life extraction tool to remove the victims from the van after a medical examiner’s official reviewed the scene, they said. An ambulance crew treated the toddler before taking her to the hospital, according to fire department and Highway Patrol officials.
The child does not have “a biological connection” to anyone in the car, but there are no other details available, Martin said.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office closed the highway between both ends of Coleman Loop for about two hours while the Highway Patrol investigated the wreck.
The story will be updated.
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