Tabor teen killed in crash, weather may have contributed

By DEUCE NIVEN

    Weather played a role in a single-car crash that claimed a local teen Friday morning, Sgt. Daniel Hilburn of the North Carolina Highway Patrol said.
    Adrianna Sue Fowler, 18, of Shug Norris Road, died after being thrown from a small car on Sidney Cherry Grove Road, near Gapway Church Road, about 8:44 a.m. Friday, Hilburn said.
    Head trauma caused Fowler’s death, Columbus County Assistant Coroner William Hannah said.
    Adrianna Fowler was a front-seat passenger in a 2006 Chevrolet HHR driven by her sister, Gracie Nichole Fowler, 16, Hilburn said. The vehicle was owned by their mother, Christina Nicole Fowler.
    The HHR was travelling west on the two-lane highway, not above the posted 55 miles per hour speed limit, when it struck some water in the roadway, ran off the road, struck a ditch and overturned once before coming to rest, on its wheels, in a field.
    Adrianna Fowler, the only person in the vehicle not wearing a seat belt, was ejected.
    Gracie Fowler and a back-seat passenger, Charlene Johnson, 17, of Pete Circle in Tabor City, were taken by ambulance to McLeod Loris hospital in Loris, South Carolina with non-life threatening injuries, Hilburn said.
    All three girls were students on their way to classes at the Columbus Career & College Academy in Fair Bluff, Hilburn said.
    Weather contributed to the crash, Hilburn said, though the roadway was draining. Exceeding a safe speed for the weather conditions also contributed, the trooper said.
    Troopers have consulted with the District Attorney’s office, and charges are not anticipated at this time, Hilburn said.
    Look for more on this story in the next Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.