3 people identified who died in unrelated York County crashes New Year’s Day
York County officials have identified the three people who died in two unrelated New Year’s Day crashes within minutes of each other.
The first wreck south of Rock Hill around 2:20 a.m. Tuesday was the first highway fatality of 2019 in South Carolina, S.C. Highway Patrol troopers said.
Christopher George Brame, 29, of Gastonia, N.C., died at the scene when his pickup truck overturned after hitting a guardrail on Eastview Road south of Rock Hill, said York County Coroner Sabrina Gast.
A second collision happened at about 2:50 a.m. on Meadow Road, between York and Clover. Kristen Diane Kale, 56, of Clover died when her van collided with a car driven by Jeremiah Hartley, 34, of Clover, Gast said.
Both crashes remain under investigation by the highway patrol and the coroner’s office. All three killed were wearing seat belts, police said. Officers have not said if alcohol was involved in either crash.
Toxicology and autopsy results are pending, Gast said.
In York County, 34 people died in crashes last year, troopers said. In South Carolina, 989 people were killed in crashes investigated by state police in 2018.
