ANGIER, N.C. — Two bicyclists were listed in critical condition Sunday after four people on bicycles were hurt after they were hit by a car in Johnston County on Saturday afternoon.
The crash happened around 2:45 p.m. at 256 Massengill Pond Road near Sue Drive and involved three men and a woman on bicycles, officials said.
The NC State Highway Patrol said that a 1992 Ford Crown Victoria car, operated by Donnie Marie Williams, age 50, was traveling north on Massengill Pond Road near Sue Drive when she approached four bicyclists from the rear, striking them.
“The collision resulted in all four being ejected,” said Lt. Jeff Gordon of the NC Highway Patrol.
All four bicyclists were transported to Wake Medical Center in Raleigh with serious injuries.
The four bicyclists all have non-life-threatening injuries and were identified as: Christopher Graham, age 34, Joel Arthur Lawrence, age 57, Lynn Lashley, 57 and Michael Dayton, age 60, according to officials.
Dayton and Lashley were listed in critical condition on Sunday afternoon. The hospital did not have any information on Lawrence and Graham, who may have already been released.
Alcohol does not appear to be a factor in this case, Gordon said.
A witness told WNCN that he saw the bicycle riders before the crash and that they were riding in a single-file line along the white line on the right side of the road.
The witness said that he heard the crash and turned to look and saw a bicycle in mid-air.
Donnie Marie Williams, the driver in the crash, did stop at the scene after the crash, officials said.
Williams’ daughter came to the scene and told WNCN that her mother, who was driving, didn’t see the bicyclists until it was too late.
Her mom was too distraught to speak. The daughter, Tiffany McElveen, says her mother was coming up over the hill and didn’t see the cyclists. A car was passing in the other direction and she panicked.
“…she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know whether to hit the other car or to try to miss the bicyclists,” McElveen said.
McElveen said that her mother was “hysterical” when she called her to the scene.
“I really couldn’t hardly understand her. She just kept saying ‘Tiffany I hit somebody, I hit somebody.’ She said ‘come down here, come down here.’ I said ‘where you at’. She told me like ten times, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying because she was so hysterical,” Tiffany McElveen said of her mother, who was not injured.
Troopers are continuing their investigation into this case, however charges are expected, Gordon said.
