WINNSBORO (Oct. 30, 2015) – An Ohio woman was killed last week when the motorcycle on which she was riding crashed into a three-car pile-up on Interstate 77.
Fairfield County Coroner Barkley Ramsey said 65-year-old Sheryl Volpe, of Newark, Ohio, was pronounced dead on arrival at Providence Northeast Hospital on Oct. 21 after being involved in the crash near mile marker 50. Volpe was a passenger on a 2008 Harley Davidson motorcycle being driven by her husband, Bernard Volpe. She was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, Ramsey said.
According to the S.C. Highway Patrol, the Volpes were traveling north on I-77 on Oct. 21 at approximately 4:20 p.m. when two vehicles ahead of them – a 1998 Ford pickup truck, followed by a 2016 Ford four-door sedan – slowed for traffic. A third vehicle in their path – a 2001 Toyota four-door sedan driven by Laura George of Charleston – did not slow down, the Highway Patrol said, and struck the rear of the Ford sedan.
The Ford sedan, in turn, then struck the rear of the Ford pickup, resulting in the pile-up.
Ramsey said Bernard Volpe laid the motorcycle down to avoid the crash and actually slid safely past George’s Toyota. But as the bike approached the second car in the chain, the Ford four-door, the driver of the Ford opened the car door just in time to strike Sheryl Volpe square in the chest.
Volpe remained conscious after the crash, Ramsey said, telling her husband as he lifted the Harley Davidson off the asphalt that her chest hurt and that she was having trouble breathing.
She was transported by ambulance to Providence, Ramsey said, but died en route.
The accident remains under investigation by the Highway Patrol.
