A 27-year-old man was killed Thursday afternoon in a single-vehicle crash on South Charleston Street just south of Blacksburg. The South Carolina Highway Patrol was still investigating the accident at press time. (Ledger photo / TIM GULLA) Neighbors on South Charleston Street a few miles south of Blacksburg looked on in disbelief at the strategically placed emergency vehicles and tarps hung across the roadway to block their view.

Out of their site, a large contingent of CKC firefighters, paramedics and personnel from the Cherokee County Coroner’s Office were performing the grim task of extricating a 27- year-old man from a mangled Chevrolet truck.

Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler said Christopher Darren Martin, 27, of 976 York Road, Blacksburg, was pronounced dead at the scene. Toxicology tests were ordered to assist in the investigation.

Lance Cpl. Jeff Gaskin of the South Carolina Highway Patrol released preliminary details early Thursday evening but said the incident remained under investigation. Gaskin said the truck was headed south on South Charleston Street at a high rate of speed when it initially ran off the right side of the roadway. Gaskin said the driver overcorrected, then ran off the left side of the roadway where the truck struck a tall tree stump and overturned.

The driver was not restrained, Gaskin said.

Members of the Highway Patrol used orange spray paint to mark tire tracks in the roadway and along an embankment on the left side of the road to highlight the apparent path of the truck, which missed striking a South Charleston Street home by just a few feet.

The CKC Volunteer Fire Department had to close South Charleston Street and detour traffic for several hours.