N.C. Officials Report Four Traffic Fatalities, Including Two Children, In Icy Weather

North Carolina public officials have reported four people suffering fatal personal injuries in weather-related crashes over the holiday weekend.

Among the fatalities was a 6-year-old boy who was killed in an accident in Johnston County, according to a December 27 report from the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. Another involved a 7-year-old pedestrian south of Sanford.

Three of the four accidents took place late on December 26, hours after a statewide weather advisory was issued by the N.C. Highway Patrol cautioning motorists to be wary of black ice that would settle on roads and highways by nightfall as temperatures fell below freezing.

One accident took place shortly after 3:30 a.m. on December 26 in Charlotte. The victim, 23-year-old Chester, South Carolina resident Hannah Ruth Floyd, was a passenger in a vehicle that ran off Interstate 85 and collided with a utility pole. The driver and another passenger in the vehicle were injured. According to the investigating trooper, the weather and alcohol were considered to be factors in the crash.

In another reported accident, a 7-year-old male pedestrian was fatally struck by a vehicle at 7 p.m. near Sanford.

In another accident, 6-year-old Greenville resident Jace Cole died in an accident in Johnston County after the truck he was a passenger in hit an icy patch and overturned multiple times shortly after 9 p.m. on U.S. 70 Bypass near Clayton. The driver’s name was not immediately made available.

Another fatality was reported in Onslow County on N.C. 210 near Holly Ridge, but further details, including the identity of the victim, was not immediately made available.