WOMAN
AIRLIFTED AFTER VEHICLE ACCIDENT
By
Elizabeth Mayhew
A
Med Center Air crew from Carolinas
Medical Center Charlotte prepares to fly
a 34-year-old woman to the hospital after
she suffered serious injuries in a Friday
accident on Gastonia Highway.
Photo by Adam Diaz/TCS
SOUTH
FORK -- A woman is airlifted
from the scene of a one-car accident
Friday, while her husband is charged with
drunk driving and other traffic offenses.
South
Fork firefighters, Lincoln Rescue and
Medic, Lincoln County Sheriff's deputies
and investigators with the North Carolina
Highway Patrol were dispatched to the
2500 block of Gastonia Highway around
4:30 p.m. Friday.
Witness
Brian Jackson said he was traveling
behind a Chevy S10 pickup truck when it
ran off the road and hit a ditch, causing
the vehicle to go airborne. The truck
then crossed the road, went airborne
again and hit another ditch.
"It
hit a telephone pole," said Jackson.
"If it hadn't been stopped by the
guide wire, it would have gone back out
into the road and hit another car."
A 34
year old female was airlifted by Med
Center Air to Carolinas Medical Center in
Charlotte with possible life threatening
injuries. She was not wearing her
seatbelt and had to be cut out of the
vehicle by firefighters.
The
driver of the truck was identified as
43-year-old Floyd Burchfield. When
questioned at first by investigators with
the North Carolina Highway Patrol, he
denied being the vehicle's driver.
The pickup
Floyd Burchfield was driving at the time
of the accident rests against a guy wire
on Gastonia Highway.
Photo by Adam Diaz/TCS
Witnesses,
however, implicated Burchfield as the
driver. He was arrested and charged with
driving while impaired, driving while
license revoked and careless and reckless
driving.Burchfield is being held at the
Harven A. Crouse Detention Center under a
$5,000 secured bond. His court date has
been set for February 6, 2009.
As of
early Monday morning, the passenger's
identity had not been released because
the wreck remains under investigation by
the NCHP.
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