Wreck results in death of woman
By Melinda Harrell
Published in News on April 5, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Officers with the Mount Olive Police Department walk around the scene of a wreck Monday afternoon. The driver of the car was traveling south on Center Street in Mount Olive when she struck a car, went airborne at County Road, drove through a metal fence and into cement barriers.
MOUNT OLIVE -- A woman died from injuries sustained in a wreck Monday afternoon in Mount Olive after her car went airborne, hitting Southern States' fencing and coming to a stop after colliding with concrete barriers.
Mount Olive Police Chief Tommy Brown said Antonia Jeanlouis, 59, of Mount Olive was traveling south down Center Street when she struck another vehicle at the Hillsboro Street intersection, before coming through the fencing and hitting the 2,000-pound-apiece pillars.
"She pushed the pillars about 10 inches forward, if that says anything about the force," Brown said.
Investigating Officer Jason Holliday of the Mount Olive Police Department, said she was driving at an excessive speed.
"The driver was definitely going more than twice the posted limit," Holliday said.
Holliday said after hitting the first car the vehicle traveled approximately 1,500 feet, where she hit a "pot hole" and went airborne, landing 71 feet from where the vehicle initially left the ground, ultimately hitting the fencing and the barriers.
"The car was obliterated," Holliday said.
According to the report, the driver was not wearing a seat belt and partially ejected from the car.
Jonathon Kornegay, employee at Southern States, witnessed the entire incident.
"I was sitting in my machine and getting on the computer, and I looked down the road," Kornegay said.
"She had to be going at least 100 mph. She hit the fence and the barriers. She looked like she was either passed out or was attempting to hit the light pole (located on the corner of Center Street and County Road). She never hit the brakes. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen."
Brown said based on the eyewitness account and Holliday's estimation, she was driving approximately 100 mph down Center Street before the car hit the barriers and flipped.
Brown said the driver may have been incapacitated due to a medical emergency, but could not definitively conclude why she lost control until the medical examiner was able to complete an examination and file a report.
"That will have to be something to get from the medical examiner," Brown said.
"We won't know that until a standard exam that would determine what may have gone on, so we will know in a couple of days. If it has something to do with toxicology that could take several weeks."