Maccesfield man sitting on couch in back of moving pickup falls off

Local News

December 1, 2009

T. J. ROYAL

A Macclesfield man was injured and sent to the hospital Monday after he fell out of a truck, along with a couch, while traveling south on U.S. 258.

Woodrow "Woody" Wilson Taylor III, 25, was taken to Heritage Hospital in Tarboro with head and hand injuries, after he fell out of a truck bed along with a couch around 1 p.m.

The accident occurred near the Greenbriar Country Road intersection on U.S. 258, around three miles south of Tarboro.

Trooper W.R. Bulluck with the N.C. Highway Patrol cited Christopher Whitaker of Conetoe, who drove the truck involved in the incident, with failure to secure a load. Bulluck said the two men were moving two couches on the back of Whitaker's Chevy Z71 truck. The tailgate was down, and Bulluck said Taylor convinced Whitaker to drive the truck without tying rope around the furniture to secure it.

The trooper added that Taylor offered to sit on the back of the truck to keep the couches from moving. After he laid on the truck's toolbox and placed his legs over the arm of one couch, Bulluck said the couch "blew out" along with Taylor onto the roadway.

Jimmy Blackburn of Wilson was driving his work truck when he heard, but did not see, the impact of the couch and Taylor on the roadway. "It was a big boom" he said, and Blackburn and his passenger Neal Combs helped to stop traffic "so no one would hit him."

Blackburn noted that a fire truck from Jacksonville was driving on U.S. 258 around the time of the incident, and that they also stopped and helped the traffic flow to prevent Taylor from getting hit within the roadway.

Although the Macclesfield man was taken to the hospital with injuries, Blackburn noted that Taylor was on his feet and moving around shortly after the accident occurred.