S.C. Highway Patrol investigates

S.C. Highway Patrol investigates

http://www.winchesternewsgazette.com/articles/2009/05/15/news/motorcyclist.txt

weekend death of Winchester man

By GEORGE SALSBERRY
gsalsberry@lowcountry.com

The South Carolina Highway Patrol is searching for a witness who can help them determine how a Winchester motorcyclist lost his life on I-95 Sunday morning.

Jason Holt, 30, of Winchester, passed away May 10 in a motorcycle accident in Walterboro, South Carolina.

Colleton County, S.C., Fire-Rescue Director Barry McRoy said an I-95 motorist called the county's 911 dispatch center at 3:21 p.m., Monday, after he had spotted a motorcycle lying in a water-filled ditch abutting the northbound lanes near mile marker 52.

The call brought a response by the highway patrol and fire-rescue. They found the motorcycle but could not find any sign of the rider.

“The area where the accident happened is overgrown and the water is dark and murky,” said McRoy. “It made spotting the motorcycle from the road difficult.”

Firefighters searched the wooded area around the accident site and used pike poles to feel around in the approximately four feet of water without success.

The highway patrol officers ran the registration on the motorcycle and it came back to Holt, 31. They then used that information to locate a family member of Holt and learned Holt had been missing since Sunday.

Colleton County Assistant Coroner Richard Carter said he had been informed that Holt had been supposed to met with people in Knoxville, Tenn., and had not arrived. Family members had then began their own search.

Two divers from Colleton County Fire-Rescue were put into the murky water to continue the search. They checked around the crash site and then widened their search, locating Holt's body about 35 from the motorcycle and 25 feet into a culvert that extends beneath the interstate.

Carter said although an autopsy was conducted Wednesday at the Medical University of South Carolina facilities in Charleston, the cause of death is still pending. “There is still more investigating to do,” he said.

Carter said the time of death had been set at approximately 3 a.m., Sunday.

Lt. G.B. Peralta Sr., commander of the highway patrol's troop six headquarters in North Charleston, says the patrol believes another motorist might have contributed to the accident that resulted in Holt's death.

“We believe that the motorcyclist may have been struck or was forced off the roadway,” Peralta said. “If you have any information regarding this collision please call the highway patrol at 1-843-953-6010.”

The Press and Standard

Walterboro, S.C.