By Jessie Burchette
Salisbury Post
The nearly 100-year-old Confederate Memorial at West Innes and Church streets escaped a head-on attack virtually unscathed Monday night.
The marble-and-concrete statue had only a few scratches, while the front of a late model Mercury Grand Marquis was heavily damaged. Salisbury Police Officer A.S. Burgess said the driver, Willie Frank Jones, was shaken but uninjured.
Jones told the officer he was going west on Innes at the intersection with Church Street around 10:30 p.m. He was in the inside lane when a car in the outside lane, also going west, moved into the Mercury’s lane, possibly trying to make a left turn onto Church Street.
Trying to avoid a collision, Jones swerved left, plowing into the statue. Burgess said the driver who caused the accident continued on.
Burgess took Jones home, while a Leonard Wrecker Service driver worked to pull the car off the statue and pick up fragments of the car scattered in the street and adjacent flower beds.