By Jesse Wood
Two single-vehicle fatal car wrecks occurred on Friday – one in Zionville and another on U.S. 421 near the Wilkes/Watauga County border.
Deputies with the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call off a car going off the road and ending up lodged on a boxwood bush after nearly crashing into a residence, according to a deputy’s shift report.
According to witnesses, the male lost consciousness just before veering off the road. A witness called 911 and requested medics because the driver of the vehicle was not breathing.
Responders with Zionville Volunteer Fire Department did CPR for “lengthy period of time but were unsuccessful in reviving the male,” according to the shift report. Medics then transported the driver to Watauga Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman said the deceased was Julian Joseph Nay, Jr., 54, of Hickory.
On the other side of the High Country – just across the Watauga County line into Wilkes County – another fatal wreck occurred, this one involving a 1995 International three axle-truck with a trailer that overturned on a runaway truck sand pile on U.S 421,” according to the Wilkes Journal-Patriot.
The driver of the truck, Jesse Lee Roach, 31, of Lexington, died from internal injuries, while Brian Lee Billings, 31, of Thomasville, was critically injured and is currently at the Johnson City Medical Center in Tennessee.
“The westbound truck, owned by Quality Controlled Floor Systems of High Point, was traveling down a steep grade of U.S. 421 about 2 p.m. when it went off on the right into the sand pile, Hall said. The front of the truck dug into the sand and it overturned onto its top,” the Wilkes Journal-Patriot reported.
‘The brakes on the truck, which was pulling a heavy flatbed trailer loaded with a Bobcat, likely were overheating at the time of the crash,’ [State Highway Patrol Trooper A.K.] Hall said.”