Speed, alcohol may be to blame for deadly crash

Two Columbia men were killed in an early morning one-vehicle wreck Sunday in Beaufort County.

Two other passengers in the vehicle, also from Columbia, were listed in serious condition at Pitt County Memorial Hospital on Monday morning.

The wreck occurred on Wharton Station Road just south of Cherry Run Road, said 1st Sgt. R.P. Hargrove with the N.C. Highway Patrol’s Washington office, during a brief interview Monday afternoon.

A 2003 Ford Taurus driven by Daniel McClees, 29, ran a stop sign, ran off the road to the right, entered a ditch, traveled into a wheat field, struck a tree and burst into flames, according to Hargrove. McClees and Bobby Jay Moore, 23, the passenger in the front passenger seat, were killed in the wreck, Hargrove said.

Back-seat passengers Yuri Spencer, 28, and Zarian Tekeen-Kensasha Bowser, 21, were seriously injured and taken to a hospital.

The Taurus was traveling an estimated 80 mph to 85 mph when the wreck occurred, according to Hargrove. The speed limit on the section of Wharton Station Road where the wreck occurred is 55 mph. Consumption of alcohol appears to be a factor in the wreck, he said. The medical examiner’s office was expected to work up toxicology reports on the victims, Hargrove said.

“We haven’t received anything yet,” he said Monday afternoon.

The wreck closed the road for several hours. Troopers C.W. White and M.S. Potter investigated the wreck, Hargrove said.