Deadly crash claims one life
By Matthew Whittle
Published in News on October 4, 2006 1:58 PM
Pervis Herder Jr. of Dudley was killed in a three-car accident early today at the intersection of N.C. 13 South and Country Lane Road.
Two other people were listed in critical condition - Jeffrey Mozingo of Mar-Mac, the driver of a Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup and Sharetta Herder, Pervis' wife, the driver of a Dodge Stratus.
Mozingo, 25, was taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital. Mrs. Herder, 28, was airlifted to Pitt Memorial Hospital. A Ford Taurus also was involved in the crash.
Mr. Herder, 41, was the passenger in the Stratus.
The Herders were found trapped in the Stratus and had to be extricated by rescue workers.
Mozingo, who had been ejected from his truck, was trapped beneath the Taurus.
Mar-Mac, Thoroughfare and Grantham firefighters responded to the 6:30 a.m. call.
Wilie Satchell Jr., 41, of Rose Hill the driver of the Taurus also was taken to Wayne, but was in stable condition.
Jessica Pate lives at the scene of the accident. Her bedroom faces the road. She said she called 911 upon hearing the crash.
"I heard it. I was the first to call 911," Ms. Pate said. "I was sound asleep and that's what woke me up -- the squealing tires and then the boom.
"All I heard was squealing and then like a collision -- how you hear in the movies how cars crash, but it was really loud. My mother-in-law went out to see what happened. It was still dark outside so we turned on the porch light and there the cars were."
One of the cars landed in her family's yard off U.S. 13.
"I hadn't even hung up the phone yet and already I heard sirens," Ms. Pate said.
It took firefighters 40 minutes to remove the Herders from the Stratus.
"Everybody worked real well together. The car was crushed up so bad we had to pull it apart about a foot," Mar-Mac Fire Chief Bill Harrell said.
Mrs. Herder suffered multiple injuries.
"She's hurt everywhere," Wayne County EMS shift supervisor Angie Maddux said.
Mr. Herder was dead on arrival, rescue workers said.
"This is probably the worst wreck we've had in a couple of years," Harrell said. "We don't usually have too bad of wrecks."
The wreck, Trooper Shane Smith explained, occured in one continuous motion.
"From what we can understand, Mr. Mozingo was traveling northbound on U.S. 13. He ran off the road to the right, struck a mailbox, overcorrected, went left of center and struck the Dodge Stratus head on. They spun around in the intersection and were struck by the Ford Taurus."
It was a scene Ms. Pate was glad her 2-year-old daughter didn't see.
"She slept right through it. She's still asleep, thank God," Pate said. "I didn't want her to see this."
With the investigation pending no charges have been filed.