Excessive speed has been determined as a factor in a weekend traffic accident on U.S. 52 south of Mount Airy which claimed the life of a city man, authorities say.
Samuel Carcia Sanchez, 36, was operating a BMW that left the roadway in the early morning hours Saturday near Cook School Road, hit a guardrail and then a tree.
“It’s my understanding it was traveling south at a high rate of speed,” said 1st Sgt. Mitch Haunn of the N.C. Highway Patrol, relaying information from Trooper Pat Ellis, who investigated the crash and hadn’t submitted his report as of Monday morning.
The BMW was believed to be going in excess of 100 mph.
Surry County Emergency Services Director John Shelton said the impact left a widely scattered trail of debris in its wake.
“The vehicle actually centered a tree and then it just separated,” Shelton added Monday. “The vehicle came apart in several pieces — it was unbelievable, really.”
Sanchez, who was alone in the car, died at the scene.
Although he initially was reported by some media outlets as a resident of Elkin, authorities later determined Sanchez to be from Mount Airy.
“He was actually living with his girlfriend up here in Mount Airy at 1800 Edgewood Place Apartments,” Shelton said of the housing complex near Walmart.
It has not been determined why Sanchez was on U.S. 52 at such a time of day — “the call actually came in to us at 3:22 a.m.” Shelton said in reference to the Surry Emergency Medical Service.
That agency and others responded to the scene and remained there for hours, including Pilot Mountain Rescue and EMS, the Pilot Knob Volunteer Fire Department, the Highway Patrol and Surry County Sheriff’s Office.
While BMWs have a reputation of being solid and sturdy, Shelton said the make of the car was not readily identifiable at the scene of the crash due it being torn apart and distributed over a wide area. This was determined from logos on wheels and other items found, although the model year of the vehicle was not available Monday.
One lane of southbound U.S. 52 was closed temporarily as a result of the crash, according to Shelton.
“We have no idea why he was traveling at that speed,” the emergency services director said of Sanchez, “and probably will never know.”
Late trooper’s dad dies
In an unrelated development, it has been learned that the father of a N.C. Highway Patrol trooper killed in the line of duty in 2018 has died.
The death Saturday of Samuel Wayne Bullard, 46, of Roaring River in Wilkes County, reportedly was due to a motorcycle accident, but that could not be confirmed Monday.
Haunn, the Highway Patrol sergeant, said he had received word of Bullard’s passing, but did not know the cause of death.
Obituary information for Bullard also did not list that.
His son, Trooper Samuel Newton Bullard, 24, a Wilkes County native who was assigned to the Highway Patrol district covering Surry County, had died in May 2018.
This occurred during a vehicle pursuit along Interstate 77 just inside the Yadkin County line when the younger Bullard’s patrol car wrecked and erupted in flames.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com