Mount Olive man dies in automobile accident
By Jack Stephens
Published in News on May 21, 2004 2:04 PM
SEVEN SPRINGS -- A 23-year-old car passenger was killed Thursday in a collision in southern Wayne County, the Highway Patrol said.
The victim was identified as Edward Deese of 317-A Tadlock Road, Mount Olive.
The wreck was at N.C. 111 South and Zion Church Road, about 2.6 miles southwest of Seven Springs at D.M. Price's Store. The intersection is governed by stop signs on Zion Church Road and an overhead flashing light.
Bobby Williams
Deese's driver, Ashlee Marie Newton, 21, of Radford Road, was going east at about 1:05 p.m. and did not stop for the stop sign on Zion Church Road, said State Trooper R.P. Hooks.
The passenger side of her car was struck by a van going north, Hooks said. The van overturned and stopped off the right side, 47 feet from impact, and the car ran off the right side and stopped in a ditch, 65 feet away, Hooks said.
Ms. Newton and the driver of the van, Jose Angel Reyes Rivera, 39, of Clinton, and were rushed by a Wayne County ambulance to Wayne Memorial Hospital. Rivera was treated in the emergency room and released. Ms. Newton was listed today in stable condition in the intensive care unit.
Hooks wrote in his report that Rivera was going about 55 mph, the speed limit, and Ms. Newton was going about 10 mph at the time of impact.
Both vehicles were demolished. Rivera's 1987 Toyota van was valued at $2,500. The 1989 Toyota car, driven by Ms. Newton and registered to Robin Merritt of Radford Road, was valued at $1,700.
Pricetown, Seven Springs and Pleasant Grove volunteer firefighters assisted at the scene.
The traffic fatality was the 13th this year in Wayne County.