Mother dies after one-car accident
By Lee Williams
Published in News on February 11, 2007 8:48 AM
MOUNT OLIVE -- A Dudley woman was killed in a one-vehicle accident when she was thrown from her car as it left the road and overturned in a ditch on Breazeale Avenue Saturday.
April Michelle Hall, 29, of Rhodes Drive, and her daughter were traveling on Breazeale near Tadlock Road when she lost control of her black 2005 Nissan, which struck an embankment and flipped over.
Ms. Hall was heading toward Mount Olive when she was ejected from her car about one mile north of the city limits. Ms. Hall was not wearing a seatbelt. She died at the scene.
Her daughter, 4-year-old Kilyah Richards, is credited with making a strong attempt to get her mother some help, Mount Olive Fire Chief Steve Martin said.
After freeing herself from the overturned Nissan, the child walked up to a stranger's home and asked for help.
"She went up to a lady's house and told her that they had been in a wreck," Martin said.
Units of the Mount Olive Fire Department, Wayne County Emergency Medical Services personnel and the State Highway Patrol responded to the accident at about 2:45 a.m.
EMS transported the child to Wayne Memorial Hospital for treatment. Master Trooper Shane Smith, who said the child had not been restrained in the vehicle, sustained only minor scratches and was treated and released to the care of her father.
Smith estimated damages to the vehicle at $8,500. The cause of the accident was attributed to the driver exceeding the posted speed limit.
Martin said responding to the fatality accident was heartbreaking.
"Anytime there's a fatality, it's definitely sad," he said.