Man dies after car hits house on N.C. 55
By Jack Stephens
Published in News on November 1, 2004 2:00 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- A 23-year-old man was killed before dawn Saturday when the car that he was driving ran off N.C. 55 and rammed a house, the Highway Patrol said.
The driver was identified as Jose Carmen Ramirez-Mendoza of 7962 Harper House Road, Newton Grove.
State Trooper B.W. Overton said Ramirez-Mendoza was going east at about 12:15 a.m., about a one-tenth of a mile east of Old Smith Chapel Road.
Overton said the car ran off the right side, traveled across a yard and a driveway for 274 feet and struck a house.
The driver was pronounced dead by rescue workers at the scene.
Ramirez-Mendoza was driving a 1997 Dodge, registered to Alejandro Gayton Castro of Benson. Damage was estimated at $3,000 to the car.
The home, owned by Ronnie Lassiter of 1154 Old Smith Chapel Road, sustained about $10,000 in damages.
The traffic death was the 20th fatality in this year in Wayne County.