BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–According to Berkeley County Coroner Bill Salisbury, on Christmas around 6 p.m., a BMW was traveling on Cainhoy Road when it ran off the left side of the roadway.
Salisbury said that after leaving the roadway it struck a power pole and a tree. The driver, 41-year-old Marshevis Ellington, of Columbia, was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.
Also killed in the wreck was a passenger, 50-year-old Joseph Simmons of Huger, Salisbury added.
Simmons was trapped in the wreckage and was extricated by the local fire department.
A third person in the car was transported to MUSC with non-life threating injuries.
The deaths have been ruled accidental by the coroner
Seatbelts were not in use, and speed was a factor in the accident, Salisbury stated.
The accident was investigated by the Berkeley County Coroner’s Office and the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
