By Scott Jenkins

Salisbury Post

Four people were hospitalized Saturday night after a driver apparently caused two wrecks on Statesville Boulevard. The driver of the car that caused the wrecks was flown to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.

Salisbury attorney David Bingham said he was driving east on Statesville Boulevard near Enon Church Road around 8 p.m. when an Oldsmobile 98 driving west sideswiped a Dodge Ram pickup in front of him.

He said the pickup reacted “like on NASCAR when somebody hits your tail end and you spin out.”

Police said the truck hit a concrete barrier set up alongside the road by the N.C. Department of Transportation to block off construction of new lanes. It then went crossed the road and hit a Chrysler Sebring nearly head-on. Both vehicles ended up partially in the front yard of a home.

After the initial contact with the truck, the woman apparently lost control of the Oldsmobile and drove into the eastbound lane, where she hit the GMC Yukon driven by Bingham.

“I slammed on my brakes and she hit me head on,” Bingham said.

Bingham remained on the scene with an injured ankle and wrist. Emergency responders took his 83-year-old mother, Ann Bingham, to Rowan Regional Medical Center with chest pains where the seatbelt caught her.

The impact crushed the front end of the Oldsmobile, pinning in the driver. Firefighters worked until nearly 9 p.m. to free the woman, peeling off the roof and cutting away other parts of the mangled car.

She was taken by ambulance to the Hefner VA Medical Center where a helicopter waited.

Sgt. K.C. Wilborn, a police supervisor, said he did not know the woman’s injuries or condition and would not release her name Saturday night. A Salisbury Police Department officer investigating the wreck didn’t have the names of the others involved.

Ray Sides said his brother, Jamie Sides, of Salisbury, was driving the Dodge pickup and sustained fractured ribs. Jamie Sides’ son, Alan, was also in the truck, but was not badly injured, Ray Sides said.

The driver of the Chrysler, Ricky Sadler II, of Maiden, was also taken to the hospital with minor injuries, Wilborn said.

“It hit so hard, it knocked the drive shaft out of the truck,” Ray Sides said.

Contact Scott Jenkins at 704-797-4248 or sjenkins@salisburypost.com.