Kinston residents remain in hospital after crash

Two Kinston residents remained in the hospital Tuesday after rescue workers lifted them from the wreckage of a three-car collision Monday.

Deborah and Donald Mills, of 1002 W. Washington Ave., spent Tuesday receiving treatment at Pitt County Memorial Hospital for serious injuries they sustained Monday afternoon when a large truck crushed their two-door sedan.

The collision happened as a result of a third vehicle pushing the Mills’ 1996 Chevrolet Cavalier into the path of a 1995 GMC commercial truck owned by Keen Plumbing Company of Goldsboro, said Woody Spencer, a spokesman for the Kinston Department of Public Safety, the investigating agency for the crash.

Spencer said a 2006 Chevrolet Van driven by 24-year-old Landon Allen Barwick and owned by Safelite – a Raleigh-based automotive repair group – launched the Mills’ car, driven by 54-year-old Deborah Mills, into oncoming traffic on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, in front of Sampson School.

“Barwick was behind Mills,” Spencer said. “Mills, preparing to turn east off of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard onto Blount Street, went to stop for oncoming traffic to turn and (Barwick) rear-ended her because he failed to reduce speed, forcing her into the northbound lane of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.”

This chain of events subsequently caused David Early Underwood, 45, 103 S. Fernwood Place, Goldsboro, to ram the 1995 GMC commercial truck into the passenger side of the Mill’s vehicle.

Barwick, of 2441 Lang Skinner Road, La Grange, received a citation for failure to reduce speed.

The impact of the crash pinned the Mills in the car. With a large crowd of people on both sides of MLK watching, rescue personnel removed Deborah Mills after about 15 minutes and Donald Mills after about 45 minutes.

The KDPS’ fire and rescue and law enforcement divisions responded to the crash, as well as the Lenoir County Emergency Medical Services.

“We had to take the roof off the car,” KDPS Fire Division Capt. Billy Huggins told The Free Press at the scene of the crash Monday. “With the extreme heat that we have, (the rescue personnel) worked diligently to get the people out. EMS and the PD did a fantastic job.”

Two EastCare helicopters — one landing at 400 E. Caswell St. and the other at Lenoir Memorial Hospital — airlifted Deborah and Donald Mills to Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, where hospital officials said they remained Tuesday.

Traffic re-opened in both lanes of MLK at approximately 7:25 p.m.

Officials with the KDPS estimated damages worth $10,000 to the Mills’ Cavalier, $3,000 to Safelite’s van and $30,000 to Keen Plumbing Company’s truck.

Wesley Brown can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wbrown@freedomenc.com.