Pfeiffer University student dies in multi-vehicle accident outside Albemarle

Published 9:38 pm Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

An 18-year-old Pfeiffer University student died Wednesday following a four-car traffic accident on N.C. Highway 24-27 east of Albemarle.

According to N.C. Highway Patrol First Sgt. Barry Baucom, Lily Jane Taylor, 18, was driving west in a Cadillac Escalade behind a commercial motor vehicle and in front of a Chevrolet pickup truck with a trailer between Sweet Home Church Road and Valley Drive.

Steven Pruitt, driving an F-550 dump truck going west on N.C. 24-27, went left of the center line and sideswiped the commercial vehicle in front of the Escalade, Baucom said.

The dump truck then continued west in the eastbound lane and collided on the left front quarter of the Escalade.

Both the Escalade and Chevy truck came to rest in the median.

Taylor died as a result of the collision on the scene, Baucom said.

Pruitt was taken to Atrium Health Stanly with minor injuries and was charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle, according to the Highway Patrol. The drivers of the Chevy truck and the commercial vehicle were not injured.

About Charles Curcio

Charles Curcio has served as the sports editor of the Stanly News & Press for more than 16 years and has written numerous news and feature storeis as well. He was awarded the NCHSAA Tim Stevens Media Representative of the Year and named CNHI Sports Editor of the Year in 2014. He has also won an award from Boone Newspapers, and has won four North Carolina Press Association awards.

email author More by Charles