Two hurt in Slocum Road crash

A crash between a pickup truck and passenger car injured two people Tuesday in Havelock, including one person who was airlifted to the hospital.

The crash happened about 12:30 p.m. at the intersection of U.S. 70 and Slocum Road and tied up traffic for more than an hour.

Cherry Point's Slocum gate was closed so the EastCare helicopter could land on the road and transport one victim, identified by Havelock police as D'Andre Covin, to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville. 

The other injured person, identified by police as Lisa Bryant, was taken by ambulance to CarolinaEast Medical Center in New Bern.

They were being treated and their conditions were not immediately available, according to spokeswomen at the two hospitals.

A third person in the passenger car, identified as Anthony Bryant, was not seriously injured and refused treatment. All three people in the car are from Havelock.

Havelock Police Chief G. Wayne Cyrus said the crash happened when a 2001 Ford Ranger pickup truck collided with a 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix.

The driver of the pickup truck, Richard Madison Young of New Bern, was not injured in the crash, Cyrus said.

Cyrus said Covin was driving the passenger car and was attempting to make a left turn from Slocum Road across U.S. 70 West and head east on the four-lane highway. He said Young was driving west on U.S. 70 and, according to the evidence and witnesses, failed to stop at the red light and struck the driver's side of the Pontiac.

The collision sent the Pontiac across the highway and into a roadside ditch, while the Ranger came to a stop in the middle of the intersection.

Anthony Bryant was able to crawl through the broken back window of the Pontiac, while firefighters and rescue personnel needed about 20 minutes to free Lisa Bryant from the wreckage. Rescue crews needed another 15 minutes to cut the roof off the Pontiac to free Covin.

Cyrus said Young was charged with failure to stop at a red light and failure to reduce speed to avoid a collision.

Covin graduated from Havelock High School earlier this year and is a member of the Lenoir Community College basketball team in Kinston. He has played in seven games this year with LCC, averaging just under 5 points per game.