N.C. Highway Patrol authorities believe inattention, possibly fatigue, was the main contributing factor in a wreck on U.S. 701 in Sampson County that claimed an 18-year-old Garner resident.
The single-car wreck happened at 4:25 p.m. Sunday on U.S. 701, about one-tenth of a mile north of John Mark Road. Ahmed Saleh Hamid, 18, of Garner was driving in a 2007 Acura passenger car with passenger Hishan Saeed Nagi, 24.
According to reports by Trooper Evelyn Campos, the vehicle was traveling north on U.S. 701 when it crossed the centerline and ran off the left side of the roadway, where it struck a ditch and driveway culvert. Campos said that after the Acura struck the culvert, it overturned and went airborne, finally coming to rest in a nearby gravel driveway.
Hamid and Nagi were both wearing their seat belts and “had to be cut out of them,” Campos noted. Hamid was pronounced dead at the scene, while Nagi sustained non-life-threatening injuries as a result. Alcohol and speeding “for sure” were not factors in the wreck, Campos said. She cited inattention as one of the main factors believed to have contributed to the wreck.
“He could have fallen asleep,” the trooper said of Hamid, noting possible fatigue that led to inattention. “It is not known for sure why he went left of center.”
Sunday’s fatal collision resulted in the 15th death on Sampson County roadways this year and was the latest in a deadly string of accidents since a triple fatality at the end of June. Of the 15 total deaths, there have been eight in five wrecks since June 25. Sunday’s collision wrapped up a deadly month of July that saw five deaths in four wrecks. Sunday’s was the second in a matter of days following a deadly head-on wreck that claimed two Newton Grove residents July 27.
There were 14 deaths in 2015 through Aug. 5. Last summer, there were eight deaths in seven wrecks through July and August.