One killed in accident
By John Joyce
Published in News on January 10, 2016 1:45 AM
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A 33-year-old Goldsboro woman died Saturday morning when her car went through a guardrail and over an embankment at the intersection of Cuyler Best Road and North Park Drive.
The driver was identified as Patrice Birden, 33, of Goldsboro.
Witnesses said the driver was either unwilling or unable to stop, estimating her speed between 80 and 90 miles per hour.
The Goldsboro Police Department is investigating.
The wreck took place at approximately 11:54 a.m. First-responders arrived to find a hole punched through the section of guardrail -- made of 1/8-inch-thick corrugated steel -- that rises along the shoulder of Cuyler Best Road as it meets and becomes North Spence Avenue over U.S. 70 Bypass.
At the bottom of the embankment, in a dense stand of trees and thick brush, rescuers found the victim's car.
"We had a single fatality wreck. The car went through the guardrail, down the embankment, into the woods," Goldsboro Assistant Fire Chief James Farfour said.
Firefighters constructed a ramp using ladders to get extrication equipment down to the vehicle. The heavy brush and the steep incline made the task more difficult, Farfour said.
The firefighters were eventually able to cut the victim out of her car, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police officers are still working to determine what led to the driver careening off of one guardrail while heading east on North Park Drive, and to her inability to stop at the intersection.
Several women employed at the TownePlace Suites, a Marriott hotel located along North Park Drive, witnessed the car go by at a high rate of speed. The women said the driver swerved in and out of traffic to avoid hitting any other cars before she traveled across Cuyler Best, going through the guardrail and becoming airborne.
They said the car then hit a tree -- making a loud impact -- and then fell to the floor of the heavily wooded area.
Christine Smith of LaGrange said she was stopped at the light on North Park Drive preparing to turn left onto Cuyler Best Road and saw the victim's vehicle coming up behind her quickly.
The impact with the first guardrail presumably prevented her from turning onto Cuyler Best Road, Mrs. Smith guessed. But she said she was certain the driver was doing her best to avoid hitting anyone else.
"She wasn't trying to hurt (anybody) because she was ducking the other cars," Mrs. Smith said.
She added that the traffic light stayed red, keeping traffic on North Spence Avenue from heading north onto what becomes Cuyler Best Road.
Neither Mrs. Smith nor any of the Marriott employees saw brake lights on the victim's vehicle.
"She was accelerating," one woman said.
The Goldsboro Police Department said a crash reconstructionist would be tasked with investigating the wreck before any official report would be completed, which might take until Monday. No one was chasing the victim and no incidents had been reported earlier that day at her home, investigators said.