Investigators will try to reconstruct accident
By Nick Hiltunen
Published in News on March 8, 2010 1:46 PM
Goldsboro police and the state Department of Transportation plan to shut down the eastbound lane of U.S. 70 sometime soon to reconstruct an accident that killed a Snow Hill man just before midnight on Saturday, police said.
Goldsboro Maj. Mike Hopper said the accident that killed Perry Michael Lanier, 45, is still under investigation.
Witnesses said a rollback tow truck driven by Tracy Frederick of North Carolina Street had pulled to the left side of U.S. 70 to assist a stranded motorist. Shortly after Frederick got out of his tow truck to talk with driver of the stranded vehicle, a 2008 Ford pickup driven by Lanier slammed into the back of the tow truck, according to an accident report.
Hopper said officers told him Lanier's truck was severely damaged.
"It basically sliced (Lanier's 2008 Ford) truck in two," Hopper said. "From what I understand, the truck is probably about totaled, too."
Initial investigation and witness reports indicate that the tow truck was at least partially in the roadway, with its amber warning lights lit.
After the impact, the tow truck was moved about 54 feet, while the 2008 Ford truck traveled about 70 feet, and both wound up near the guardrail on U.S. 70, according to the accident report.
Emergency personnel responded to the scene, but Lanier died before he could be transported to the hospital.
Hopper said the Depart-ment of Transportation plans to close the eastbound lane of U.S. 70 "at time that would be least disruptive to the motoring public," but he was not sure exactly when.
"At earliest, it would be sometime tomorrow," Hopper said.