Two airmen die in crash in Greene County
By Turner Walston
Published in News on October 18, 2005 1:50 PM
Two Seymour Johnson Air Force Base airmen died Saturday afternoon when their motorcycle hit a pickup truck and then a car at an estimated speed of 130 mph.
Airman 1st Class Dustin Cichon, 22, of Lakeland, Fla., and Senior Airman Elizabeth Johnson, 23, of Holly Hill, Fla., were traveling north on U.S. 13 about five miles north of Snow Hill when the motorcycle they were riding struck the corner of a pickup truck entering the highway from N.C. 123, said Sgt. R.T. Futrell of the North Carolina Highway Patrol's Greene County post.
The motorcycle proceeded north and struck the rear of a car, according to the accident report filed by NCHP investigators.
Cichon was operating the Yamaha motorcycle and Ms. Johnson was a passenger. The accident occurred shortly before 3 p.m.
The drivers of the pickup and car involved, Lester William Merritt Jr. and John Lindsey, both of Snow Hill, were not charged. Neither were injured in the accident.
"The main thing we're looking at is the high rate of speed at which the motorcycle was traveling, estimated at 130 miles per hour," Futrell said.
Cichon and Johnson were both members of the 4th Fighter Wing, assigned to the 4th Equipment Maintenance Squadron at Seymour Johnson.