T. J. ROYAL
Three people were taken to Heritage Hospital in Tarboro with injuries after two separate traffic accidents occurred on Sunday in Edgecombe County.
N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Kearstin Howald said the first wreck occurred around 9 a.m. Sunday near Leggett on Fishing Creek Road near N.C. 97.
Vernon Brown Jr., 32, of Hobgood was driving back home after working his third-shift job in Wilson when Howald said he fell asleep at the wheel of his 2005 Magnum. The trooper said he headed into a slight curve, ran off the right side of the road, struck a ditch and overturned his vehicle twice, landing on its roof. Speed "was not a factor" in his collision Howald said, as he was going the posted 55 mph speed limit.
Howald said Brown was taken to Heritage Hospital and released later that day. Brown was charged with failing to maintain lane control.
Later on Sunday, around 1:21 p.m., Howald said Dennis Ray Etheridge, 62, of Wilson ran his 2007 Ford truck off the left side of the road on U.S. 258 between Princeville and Shiloh Farm Road. Etheridge's 16-year-old son, Daniel Etheridge, was riding with him at the time of the wreck.
The trooper said Etheridge also fell asleep at the wheel, as he was heading south on U.S. 258 from a visit to Virginia. Etheridge crossed the center line and struck a ditch on the left side of U.S. 258 and overturned, Howald said.
Father and son were taken to Heritage Hospital for their injuries. Daniel was released while his father remains at the Tarboro hospital today in “fair” condition.
Howald said Dennis Etheridge was charged with crossing the center line.
