By Steve Huffman
Salisbury Post
An elderly man injured Tuesday in a traffic accident in eastern Rowan County has died.
Zebulon Vance Crayton, 77, of Stanfield, died about 10 a.m. Friday at Carolinas Medical Center.
In comments on the Post’s Web site, members of Crayton’s family said he suffered severe head lacerations in the accident and doctors gave him little chance of surviving.
Crayton had been airlifted from the site of the accident, which took place at the intersection of Emanuel Church Road and Old Beatty Ford Road.
Crayton’s wife, Gladys Tomberlin Hathcock, 82, remains in critical condition at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
The couple were passengers in a 2004 Toyota Camry driven by Crayton’s son-in-law, William Archie Vanhoy.
The N.C. Highway Patrol trooper who investigated the accident said Vanhoy ran a stop sign on Emanuel Church Road and ran into the side of a truck driven by Matthew Wayne Propst, 36, of Agner Road in Salisbury.
Trooper C.J. Doty said he probably wouldn’t file charges, but said a report of the accident would indicate that Propst was not responsible.
The truck that Propst was driving belongs to Trexler Trucking of Gold Hill.
Contact Steve Huffman at 704-797-4222 or shuffman@salisburypost.com.