A 72-year-old man died following a Monday morning crash on Love Springs Road.

The crash occurred at 11:50 a.m. when a 1993 Chevrolet sport utility vehicle headed west on Love Springs Road traveled across the center line and off the roadway, and then struck a tree in the front yard of a home in the 1900 block, according to Trooper Billy Elder of the South Carolina Highway Patrol and the Cherokee County Coroner’s Office.

Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler identified the driver as Freddy Homer Mullinax, of South Green River Road. Fowler said Mullinax died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.

Mullinax was the sixth person to die on a Cherokee County roadway in 2010.

Responding firefighters and paramedics called for a helicopter from Spartanburg Regional Medical Center as they used hydraulic extrication tools to free the driver, who was trapped inside the vehicle.

(Top photo) This 1993 Chevrolet sport utillity vehicle struck a tree head-on Monday morning on Love Springs Road, killing a 72-yearold man. (Right) Captain Jody Brasington of the Gaffney Fire Department keeps watch as a Spartanburg Regional Medical Center helicopter prepares to lift off from a yard across the street from the accident scene. (Ledger photos / TIM GULLA) A landing zone was set up in a yard directly across the street from the crash site and the medical center’s Regional One helicopter touched down within minutes.

Mullinax was wearing a seat belt, Elder said.

Responding to the accident were paramedics from Upstate Carolina Medical Center and firefighters from Macedonia Volunteer Fire Department and Gaffney Fire Department.