10-year-old driver dies in Yadkin County wreck
The Associated Press
YADKINVILLE, N.C. --A 10-year-old boy died Wednesday when the truck he was driving veered off a Yadkin County highway and crashed into several trees, authorities said.
Brandon Channel Rudisill of Yadkinville was driving the pickup truck with his 7-year-old stepbrother, Caleb Penley, as a passenger around 1:30 a.m., according to the Highway Patrol. Several people had reported a truck driving erratically.
A trooper approached the vehicle at a convenience store, but the driver sped off "at a high rate of speed," according to the patrol. The vehicle went off the right shoulder of a rural highway before crossing back to the other side of the road, up a small embankment and into some trees.
Neither boy was wearing a seat belt. It was unclear why the boys were driving.
"I have heard of underage driving - but it's typically 14 and 15-year-olds," state Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Everett Clendenin said. "It's tragic. It's hard on the family and it's hard on the troopers. They feel terribly that this ended in the death."
Caleb was taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center where he was in fair condition Wednesday afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Shannon Koontz said.
The Highway Patrol was working with the North Carolina Division of Social Services to investigate why the boys were driving alone, Clendenin said.
Social services officials did not immediately return phone calls.
The Associated Press
YADKINVILLE, N.C. --A 10-year-old boy died Wednesday when the truck he was driving veered off a Yadkin County highway and crashed into several trees, authorities said.
Brandon Channel Rudisill of Yadkinville was driving the pickup truck with his 7-year-old stepbrother, Caleb Penley, as a passenger around 1:30 a.m., according to the Highway Patrol. Several people had reported a truck driving erratically.
A trooper approached the vehicle at a convenience store, but the driver sped off "at a high rate of speed," according to the patrol. The vehicle went off the right shoulder of a rural highway before crossing back to the other side of the road, up a small embankment and into some trees.
Neither boy was wearing a seat belt. It was unclear why the boys were driving.
"I have heard of underage driving - but it's typically 14 and 15-year-olds," state Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Everett Clendenin said. "It's tragic. It's hard on the family and it's hard on the troopers. They feel terribly that this ended in the death."
Caleb was taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center where he was in fair condition Wednesday afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Shannon Koontz said.
The Highway Patrol was working with the North Carolina Division of Social Services to investigate why the boys were driving alone, Clendenin said.
Social services officials did not immediately return phone calls.
