
By Corinne Saunders
MANNS HARBOR — A 2-year-old child from Manns Harbor died Thursday after an early morning vehicle collision on the Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge, which connects Manns Harbor and Roanoke Island in Dare County.
A 1991 Mustang that a Manns Harbor resident was driving broke down on the bridge in the righthand eastbound lane, and a GMC Acadia rear-ended it around 8:02 a.m., Sgt. D.C. Pridgen of the North Carolina Highway Patrol said in a phone call Thursday afternoon.
“The Mustang caught on fire and killed a 2-year-old child that was inside,” Pridgen said.
The Mustang’s driver is in critical condition in the intensive care unit of Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia, but is expected to survive, he said.
The driver of the Acadia, who is from Columbia, suffered minor injuries and was cited with “failure to reduce speed to avoid a collision, and misdemeanor death,” Pridgen said.
He called the collision “a bad situation for everybody involved.”
Speed was not a factor in the collision, and neither was alcohol or other substances causing impairment.
Meanwhile, at about 8:05 a.m., a deputy stopped on the westbound side of the bridge as he “was trying to help get the child out, and somebody rear-ended his patrol car,” Pridgen said.
That driver was unharmed and was cited with failure to reduce speed to avoid a collision. The deputy, already out of his vehicle, was also unharmed.
The bridge was closed for a while, with traffic impacted from about 8-11 a.m., he said.
--------
Editor’s Note: For access to all of Outer Banks Insider’s advertisement-free local news, subscribe today at this link.
Comments