Man dies in two-car crash
By John Joyce
Published in News on September 1, 2015 1:46 PM
A Mount Olive man died Monday when his vehicle ended up in a ditch following a two-car collision on N.C. Highway 55 west of Mount Olive.
The wreck happened at 5:38 p.m. in front of what locals know as the Percy Britt Store, now vacant.
Benjamin Lambert, 41, of 116 E. John St., died at the scene after EMS workers and volunteer firefighters from three different departments worked to extricate him.
The driver of the second vehicle, Darjan Spasojevic, 28, of Mount Olive, was transported to Wayne Memorial Hospital. Charges against Spasojevic are pending, according to a N.C. State Highway Patrol report.
According to the wreck report, Spasojevic was traveling west on the highway and Lambert was heading east. Spasojevic veered off the roadway to the right, came back across the road crossing left of center and struck Lambert head on.
Spasojevic's car spun around and came to a stop facing east on the highway. Lambert's car ended up in a ditch down a steep embankment facing west.
Both patients needed to be extricated, Mount Olive fire Chief Greg Wiggins said.
"It was in the Thunderswamp community, just about a half mile or three quarters of a mile from Thunderswamp Church on Highway 55," he said.
Wiggins said the two cars met head on and that when he arrived on scene both drivers were pinned in.
"We responded mutual aid to Smith Chapel (Volunteer Fire Department,") Wiggins said. Mount Olive handles extrication for that part of the county. But with two drivers pinned in with unknown injuries, more help was needed.
"Grantham was also dispatched to assist with extrication," he said.
Lambert's car was on its drivers side down an embankment in a ditch, Wiggins said. Firefighters had less room to work in to complete an already difficult task.
"It made extrication a little more difficult being down in the ditch," he said. "And then the medical helicopter from WakeMed arrived but I don't think they ever did transport anybody," Wiggins said.
Lambert died in the back of an ambulance there at the scene, he said.
Wiggins expressed his condolences to the Lambert family and said all of the first responders care very much about their community. They see some things in the course of their duties he does not believe people were meant to be exposed to so regularly.
He said he is amazed at how well the firefighters and EMS crews worked together to try to save the life of someone they did not even know.
"I just wish yesterday had been different. They did all they could," he said.