Candida Chapman, 18, of Columbus, was on her way from Ohio to Winston-Salem, N.C., to visit friends when the accident happened around 3:40 p.m.
According to Trooper K.D. Blackburn with the Virginia State Police, Chapman was headed southbound on I-77 about halfway down the mountain when she lost control of her 2001 Ford Explorer, crossed the median, traveled down the steep drop between the north and south bound lanes and landed in the northbound lanes.
While medical crews were responding, they planned to land AirCare on the interstate, but Chapman died at the scene. She was the only person in the car, and no other vehicles were involved in the incident, Blackburn reported.
Emergency officials with Cana Volunteer Fire Department, Cana Rescue Squad, Hillsville Fire Department and Carroll EMS assisted at the scene.
Man airlifted after crash
PILOT MOUNTAIN — A Pilot Mountain man is in serious condition at a Winston-Salem hospital following a motorcycle wreck Friday evening.
Ryan Keith Schroeder, 28, of 185 Cleo Cain Road, was traveling west on Cook School Road near Jessup Grove Church Road at 5:15 p.m., when he entered the curve at Pine Ridge Baptist Church and lost control of his 2005 Yamaha motorcycle.
“According to the neighbors, they heard him driving down the road, so speed was definitely a factor,” said Trooper J.R. Vindich of the North Carolina Highway Patrol. “He cross the center line, ran off the left side of the road and overcorrected in the grass. Then the bike flipped over and ejected him.”
Vindich said Schroeder came to a rest on the asphalt. “I’m pretty sure his helmet flew off, because there were no scratches on it and it was found down the hill,” the trooper said.
Alcohol and speed were contributing factors in the incident, according to the trooper, who said Schroeder was traveling about 50 mph in the curve.
“The family said he and his significant other had got in a fight about his drinking and he had got on the bike and left,” Vindich reported.
Vindich did not have a blood alcohol level Friday night, but he ordered a blood sample to be taken.
AirCare was landed in a field just a couple hundred yards from the accident, and Surry County EMS stabilized Schroeder before he was airlifted to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
“This is a great county to work in, because everybody — rescue, fire, EMS, highway patrol — works so well together,” Vindich said.
Schroeder has been charged with driving while impaired, exceeding safe speed and left of center.
Assisting on the scene were Westfield Volunteer Fire Department, Pilot Mountain Rescue Squad and Surry County EMS.
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