Vehicle was traveling at a high speed before striking tree

Staff Writer

rseaborn@pickenssentinel.com

PICKENS - A Liberty man sustained critical injuries Tuesday morning after the pickup he was driving left the roadway, went down an embankment, and struck a tree.

Christopher Ray Bass, 27, of 62 Breazeale Road, was driving a 1979 Ford Pickup on Reece Mill Road and toward Jones Avenue at a high rate of speed when he lost control of the vehicle, drove off the road and struck a road sign before going down the embankment and hitting the tree, Lance Cpl. Kathy Hiles, with the South Carolina Highway Patrol, said.

Just prior to the crash, which occurred at 9:35 a.m. Bass had been driving on U.S. 178, in Pickens, when he disregarded a red traffic signal, Hiles said.

It was when Bass saw that a deputy with the Pickens County Sheriff's Office had observed that traffic violation that he turned onto Reece Mill Road and fled the area at a high rate of speed, she said.

Bass was not being pursued by law enforcement at the time of the accident, Hiles said.

Law enforcement officials on the scene estimated that Bass was traveling at about 100 miles per hour when his vehicle left the roadway.

Bass was not wearing a seatbelt when the collision occurred, Hiles said.

His driver's license was also under suspension for a drug violation, officials said.

Bass was airlifted to Greenville Memorial Hospital with life-threatening injuries, Hiles said. His condition at this time is unknown.

The S.C. Highway Patrol is continuing to investigate the accident, she said.