SC man killed when car runs off road and crashes into tree, officials say
A Richland County man died the day after the car he was driving ran off a Midlands road and crashed into a tree, South Carolina officials said.
Damien Waters, 31, died Monday from the injuries he suffered in what Sumter County Coroner Robbie Baker called an accident.
The single-vehicle collision happened at about 8:45 p.m. Sunday, said Master Trooper William Bennett of the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
Waters was driving a 2005 Ford Mustang south on S.C. 261/North Kings Highway, according to Bennett. At the intersection with Richbow Road the Mustang ran off the right side of North Kings Highway and crashed into a tree, Bennett said.
Waters was taken to Prisma Health Richland hospital in Columbia, where he died Monday, according to Baker.
Bennett said that Waters was the only person in the Mustang, and no other injuries were reported.
There was no word if Waters was wearing a seat belt.
Information about what caused the Mustang to veer off the road was not available, but the wreck continues to be investigated by the Highway Patrol and coroner’s office.
This turned out to be the second deadly crash in Sumter County on Sunday, according to the coroner’s office.
At about 6 p.m., 49-year-old Florence County resident Felicia Williams Sims died in another accident, Baker said.
Sims was a passenger in a vehicle that was driving north on Interstate 95, according to the coroner’s office. Between the 141 and 146 mile markers on I-95, a single-vehicle collision occurred and Sims died at the scene, Baker said.
There was no word if the driver was hurt, but no other injuries were reported.
Information about what caused the crash was not available, but it continues to be investigated by the Highway Patrol and coroner’s office. Baker said an autopsy is scheduled to be performed Wednesday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
Through Sunday, 701 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2025, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Last year, at least 948 people died in crashes in South Carolina, DPS reported.
At least 19 people have died in Sumter County crashes in 2025, according to DPS data. There were 19 deaths in the county in 2024, DPS reported.
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This story was originally published October 14, 2025 at 8:44 AM with the headline "SC man killed when car runs off road and crashes into tree, officials say."
