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Bedford Co., VA - Police have released new information on a deadly accident Wednesday in Bedford County. State Police tell us just one person inside the car died. Earlier, ABC 13 had heard of two deaths.
All of the victims are young and all chose not to buckle up. Troopers and neighbors say they were speeding. 18-year-old Chase Jones of Thaxton is dead. 19-year-old Dewey Lee Perkins was driving. He was injured, along with 18-year-old Kristopher Meador of Montvale.
The accident happened on a stretch of road that has seen several wrecks before. Johnny Carter, who saw the car wreck, said, "It gets to you to see a young life like that just taken out of this world."
Carter and State Police say the three boys were speeding on the section of Bell Town Road, near the Bedford County/Bedford City line.
"Two or three minutes before that they were coming up this road never knowing right here would be there last stop," Carter said. "It sounded like a piece, a stick of dynamite going off, it was that loud."
The car went off the road around 2:00 p.m. Carter, who lives a few houses down, was with the injured boys until crews arrived. "I told them just to keep calm. I said, 'They're on their way here. They'll be here in just a few minutes,'" Carter said.
Police say the passenger in the front seat died. Crews took the driver and rear passenger to Carilion
(web) Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Cary Dillon lives on Bell Town Road and has seen three wrecks in his front yard. A tree in his front yard still bears the scars from a wreck years ago. "The one hit the other tree right there, and spun off down through her yard. And then this one hit that one," Dillon said.
"They just don't realize how quick the curve will throw you," Dillon said. Cars cruise by a little slower now to check out the tree’s scars, but it's clear the wounds from this wreck go far deeper than the bark torn from the old oak.
"I just wish kids would just stop and think about what one of those things out there can do to you. But I don't know whether that will ever happen or not," Carter said.
Police say the accident is still under investigation. They say charges may be filed against Perkins, the driver. Perkins and Jones, the boy who died, are step-brothers.
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