Boy, 8, killed in crash
By Nick Hiltunen
Published in News on April 10, 2009 1:46 PM
An 8-year-old boy was ejected and later died after a one-car accident Thursday night on N.C. 403, about seven miles from Mount Olive, authorities said.
John Patrick Best, 8, of Kenneth Best Road, was taken by helicopter to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville, where he died, Duplin County Sgt. Will Thurston said today.
The accident took place around 6:05 p.m., when a car driven by the boy's mother, Tara Best, 33, swerved off the right side of the highway, the sergeant said.
Mrs. Best was headed east on N.C. 403, according to the Highway Patrol report.
After running off the road, Mrs. Best "overcorrected the back to the left, which caused the vehicle to lose control, and it overturned several times in the highway," Thurston said.
Thurston said the other occupants of the vehicle, Chesney Best, 11, and Tyler Best, 7, and Mrs. Best, were not severely injured.
"All things considered, they were minorly injured, they were ambulatory, they were walking," the sergeant said.
Thurston said the patrolmen are still investigating whether the 8-year-old was wearing a seat belt.
"It does not look like the young boy who was ejected was wearing his seat belt, because the seat belt was not fastened," Thurston said. "We're still looking into that, but it doesn't appear that he was wearing his seat belt."