Crash at intersection leaves woman trapped
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on September 8, 2015 1:46 PM
A wreck just before 8 a.m. Monday at the intersection of the 1800 block of East Elm Street and the 600 block of South Claiborne Street left two people injured and their cars badly damaged.
Florice Lane, who was driving a Nissan Murano, told police that she was heading to work at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base when she ran a stop sign at the intersection of South Claiborne and East Elm streets. This caused Betty Williams, who was driving a Mazda Tribute down Elm Street, to collide with Ms. Lane.
Ms. Lane told police her car spun 90 degrees and tipped onto its driver's side door before landing upright after it was struck in the passenger side.
Ms. Williams' car spun 180 degrees and landed on the driver's side, trapping her in the vehicle.
James Williams, who lives at 600 S. Claiborne St., said his wife, Crystal, woke him up and told him there had been a wreck outside their house.
Williams ran outside to the accident and helped remove Ms. Williams, no relation, from her vehicle.
"When we came out to see what happened I was calling 911 while we ran toward (Ms. Williams), but an officer was already here, and he said he heard the wreck because he was already in the area. (Ms. Williams) was standing straight up and holding her passenger door open and yelling, 'Help, help!'" said Kristie Crabtree, who also helped get Ms. Williams out of her car. "Both women were yelling for help."
Ms. Williams and Ms. Lane were both transported to Wayne Memorial Hospital for treatment with non-life threatening injuries. An estimated $3,000 worth of damage was done to both vehicles.