FAIRFIELD COUNTY – Two vehicle crashes occurred in Fairfield County Tuesday afternoon, one involving a fatality, the other involving serious injury, according to reports.
The first accident occurred around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday on Jackson Creek Road near Hwy 34. No official information about this accident was available from the S.C. Highway Patrol at press time on Wednesday. A spokesperson with SCHP said a report on the accident would not be available until Friday, Dec. 6.
Jason Pope, Director of Fairfield County Fire Services said Fairfield fire service units were dispatched to the scene where crews extricated the driver from one of the vehicles. That driver, Pope said, had serious injuries and was transported to Prisma Health/Richland Hospital in Columbia.
There is no word on the cause of the accident or whether the other driver sustained injuries.
The second accident occurred about 2:15 p.m., Tuesday on SC Hwy 34 at the intersection of Smallwood Road, near Ridgeway, according to master Trooper David Jones with the S.C. Highway Patrol.
The driver of a 2010 Acura SUV was traveling west on Hwy 34 when it crashed into the passenger side of a white 2017 Chevy van, according to the report,
The driver of the SUV, Mark Wakefield, 43, of West Columbia, was transported to Prisma Health/Richland Hospital where he later died from injuries sustained in the collision, the report stated. Wakefield was wearing a seatbelt.
The driver of the van, a resident of Heath Springs, S.C., was also wearing a seatbelt and was transported to Prisma Health/Richland Hospital with minor injuries, according to Jones.
There is no information as to whether any criminal charges will be filed in the collision.
The accident remains under investigation by the S.C. Highway Patrol.
