HAMLET — The N.C. State Highway Patrol has confirmed details from a fatal wreck near Hamlet early Monday evening that resulted in the death of a Charlotte fireman.
According to Trooper A. Oxendine, 31-year-old Patric Saunders, who was driving a Chevy Tahoe, was traveling west in the eastbound lane of U.S. 74 when he collided head-on with a tractor-trailer around 6:30 p.m. Jan. 4 at mile-marker 322, where the bypass and U.S. 74 business merge.
The tractor-trailer was driven by 56-year-old Roger Locklear of Lumberton. Oxendine says Locklear was driving for R&L Carrier out of Lumberton.
Oxendine said he was not able to determine why Saunders would have been in the wrong lane.
Saunders was pronounced dead at the scene.
The trooper added that neither the weather nor speed were factors and no drugs or alcohol were suspected.
The Hamlet Fire Department and N.C. Department of Transportation assisted with traffic, which was backed up until around 10 p.m. The scene was finally cleared just after midnight, according to Oxendine.
WSOC reported earlier Tuesday that Saunders had been with the Charlotte Fire Department since 2015 and joined the Wesley Chapel Volunteer Fire Department in Weddington while in high school.
No charges were filed in the wreck.
