On Thursday night, a driver survived a crash that caused his car to become briefly airborne. The single-vehicle wreck occurred on Beulah Hill Church Road on the outskirts of Taylortown just a few minutes before 8 p.m.
Curious bystanders and first responders alike were left puzzling how the car — a Dodge Dart — ended up in the position it landed in with the damage it sustained. Pieces of the car littered not just the winding back road but were also stuck in the branches of trees. Most notably, most of the car’s front bumper was ripped off and left hanging tangled in the limbs of nearby trees.
Parts of a Dodge Dart littered trees in Taylortown wreck on June 22, 2023.
According to authorities on the scene, the driver of the car lost control, deviated from the road, and became airborne, where the Dodge then passed through the branches of several trees. However, the car was somehow completely turned around and sustained a heavy hit to the roof.
The working theory is that after passing through the upper branches of the trees and finally hitting the ground, the car struck a stump on the ground with such force and speed that the car spun around it entirely, finally ending up facing the opposite direction the driver had initially been traveling.
The driver was the vehicle’s only occupant and declined transport by EMS. The official cause of the crash was not given at this time.
As a result, the car sustained heavy allover damage, with pieces wholly torn off, windows shattered, and air bags deployed before it was finally slammed into a swamp several yards from the initial launch point. Skid marks on the highway and thick treads in the mud spanned the length of the road where the driver attempted to regain control of the vehicle.
Beulah Hill Church Road was brought down to one lane while first responders cleared and investigated the scene.
Feature photo: A Dodge Dart sustained damage after being airborne in a single-vehicle crash in Taylortown on June 22, 2023.
~Article and photos by Sandhills Sentinel reporter Abegail Murphy.
