Man seriously injured in Old Beatty Ford crash has died
Published 12:08 am Saturday, March 11, 2017
- A firefighter can be seen looking at the remnants of a rollback where driver Terry Childers was pinned inside. He ran off the road and overcorrected, struck a ditch and hit this pecan tree head-on. Rescuers had to use several tools to pry the cab away from the tree and the what was left of the back seat. Shavonne Walker/Salisbury Post
ROCKWELL — A Kannapolis man has died after he was seriously injured in a single-vehicle collision that left him pinned against a large pecan tree on Old Beatty Ford Road.
According to officials with the State Highway Patrol, Terry Childers, 69, died Friday morning, a day after the crash.
Childers was driving a rollback wrecker for Road Runner Towing of Kannapolis. He was traveling east on Old Beatty Ford Road at 11:31 a.m. when he ran off the road to the right.
Rogers said Childers hit a mailbox, overcorrected the rollback, crossed the center line and traveled onto the left side of the roadway. He then struck a ditch and a large tree. The cab of the vehicle was flattened as it was wedged against the tree in a yard at 10004 Old Beatty Ford Road.
Witnesses had said Childers was conscious at the scene and hollering for someone to get him out. Rescue personnel said Childers was initially conscious and lost consciousness by the time they freed him from the wreckage.
It took multiple firefighters and rescuers over 30 minutes to pry the dashboard apart from the rest of the torn vehicle to free Childers.
A witness behind the rollback provided information that led troopers to believe speed was a factor in the accident. The speed limit in that area is 55 mph.
