By HEATHER WALTERS
A 47-year-old man standing along Bells Highway early Sunday morning was struck by a drunk driver.
The incident occurred at about 3 a.m. on Sunday, April 18 in the 600-block of Bells Highway, near Remax Realty in Walterboro.
According to information provided in a Walterboro Police Department incident report, the 47-year-old man was found laying facedown in the roadway, bleeding from his head. Pieces of the vehicle were located in the road.
The man suffered critical injuries, including a head injury and multiple fractures, according to Barry McRoy, chief of Colleton County Fire-Rescue. The man was taken to the Trauma Center at Trident Medical Center in North Charleston.
“The local medical helicopter was tied up on another response and was not available,” said McRoy. “The man was quickly treated at the scene, then transported emergent to the Trauma Center at Trident Medical Center in North Charleston … additional Firefighter-Paramedics were onboard to assist with his care,” he said.
Witnesses at the scene told police officers that the victim was spotted standing on the passenger side of the vehicle in a parking lot, talking with the female driver. The two did know each other.
Other witnesses said the woman was seen turning her vehicle around in the roadway. Another witness told officers that they heard a “commotion,” according to the police report,
Officers found the 29-year-old driver of the car on scene, sitting outside the car, the report states.
The Walterboro woman is charged with Driving Under Influence, First Offense. She was taken to the Colleton Detention Center, where she refused to take a breath test to determine her blood alcohol level. The incident report states that the woman also contributed to the crash because she was driving over the center line in the road, striking the victim.
The report also states that the man was listed as also being responsible, since he was a pedestrian walking in the road outside of a crosswalk.
The incident is being investigated by the Walterboro Police Department.
