Motorist survives scary accident

The South Carolina Highway Patrol investigates a crash on Battleground Road on Monday morning. A 34- year-old Greenville man was ejected from his sport utility vehicle but apparently sustained few injuries. Witnesses said he nearly hit a car in the opposite lane before veering off the road into a culvert, causing the SUV to flip over. A 34-year-old Greenville man was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol following a scary Friday morning wreck on Battleground Road during which he was thrown from his SUV and nearly crushed by the tumbling vehicle.

Amazingly, according to a Cowpens woman who witnessed the incident and rushed to offer first aid, the driver appeared to have few injuries.

"I checked him out from head to toe," said Loretta Rolison, who used to be a First Responder in Florida. "The only thing he had was a laceration on his pinky finger."

According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, Leon D. Hull, of Crossfield Road, was driving his 2001 GMC sport utility vehicle north on SC 110, or Battleground Road, when he almost struck another vehicle head-on. Lance Cpl. Jeff Gaskin said Hill then ran off the right side of the road, struck a culvert pipe before his vehicle overturned, ejecting him.

Witness Debra Bradley of Gaffney said she saw the SUV flip twice before the driver was ejected. The vehicle then flipped a third time over the driver, but did not crush him.

The accident could have been even worse. Sisters Brenda Bright and Barbara Rankin, both of Cowpens, were driving to a doctor's appointment headed south on Battleground Road when they witnessed the SUV headed straight for them in their lane.

"I thought, 'this is it,'" Rankin said.

Bright said she took evasive action by pulling off the roadway to avoid the collision and nearly went through a field. She saw the vehicle flipping as she looked back.

All four women who witnessed the accident then went to work trying to help. Bright and Rankin went to stop traffic at both ends of the accident scene while Rolison attended to the driver and Bradley relayed information to emergency dispatchers.

Bradley, who teaches surgical technology at Spartanburg Community College, is familiar with the injuries seen in hospital settings but said witnessing an accident still is "unnerving."

Referring to herself and Bradley, Rolison said, "(The driver is) lucky he had two halfway decent women on his side this morning."

Macedonia firefighters and paramedics responded to the scene within minutes, as did the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and South Carolina Highway Patrol.

Bright and Rankin stayed at the scene to give their statements before getting back on the road for their trip to the doctor's office. "When they check my blood pressure I'm sure it won't be what it's supposed to be," Bright said.

Hull, who wasn't wearing a seatbelt, was taken to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center by ambulance.