Driver of church van dies in Lancaster County crash

By Jason Foster and Christy Mullins

A man driving a church van died and several other people were seriously injured Saturday after a three-vehicle wreck on S.C. 903 in Lancaster County.

The name and age of the man who died were not available late Saturday.

Lancaster County Deputy Coroner Marie Broome declined to identify the church whose van was involved in the wreck, pending family notifications.

WSOC-TV, The Herald's news partner, reported that the van belonged to SouthPoint Freewill Baptist Church in Belmont, N.C.

The collision happened around 4:20 p.m. along S.C. 903, two miles west of Primer Cross Road, as the church van carrying five people traveled west, according to the S.C. Highway Patrol. Two other vehicles were involved in the crash � a 2000 Ford pickup truck that also was headed west and a 1995 Ford pickup that was pulling a utility trailer in the eastbound lane.

It's unclear what caused the wreck, said Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Jeff Gaskin.

Three of the passengers in the church van were airlifted to CMC, while a fourth was taken to the hospital by ambulance, Gaskin said. Their names and conditions were not available Saturday night. It's unclear whether anyone in the van was wearing a seat belt, he said. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, Gaskin said.

The 60-year-old driver of the 2000 pickup and his 51-year-old passenger were ejected from the truck. Neither was wearing a seat belt, Gaskin said. Both were taken to CMC and their conditions were unknown late Saturday.

The two people in the 1995 pickup wore seat belts and were not seriously injured.

Troopers continued to investigate late Saturday and no other information was available.

Third fatal wreck since Friday

The Lancaster County wreck was the area's third collision since Friday to involve a death.

Two other people died in separate wrecks early Friday and Saturday mornings after both drivers lost control of their cars and hit trees.

JaQuanda Monique Hammond, 24, wasn't wearing a seat belt when she crashed her Chevy Malibu into a tree along River Road in Fort Lawn, about a half-mile from S.C. 9, early Saturday, said Chester County Coroner Terry Tinker.

Hammond was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:38 a.m. of blunt force trauma to her head. She lived at Carobrook Apartments in Fort Lawn, Tinker said.

A similar crash caused 27-year-old William Allen Price of York to die on impact around 1 a.m. Friday, officials said.

Price was rounding a curve on Riddle Mill Road five miles east of Clover when he drove left of the center line and also struck a tree, the S.C. Highway Patrol reported. He was driving a 1999 Nissan and was wearing a seat belt, officers said.

Speed and toxicology results are pending in those wrecks.

Jason Foster 803-329-4066

Christy Mullins 803-329-4062