DORCHESTER COUNTY, SC : SCHP charges man with reckless homicide in fatal multi-vehicle wreck in Summerville on Thursday, 20th October 2016
Dorchester, South Carolina
The South Carolina Highway Patrol has charged a man in connection to a multi-vehicle accident that killed a man in Summerville Thursday morning.
Troopers charged 21-year-old Justen L. Wilkes of Summerville with felony driving under the influence resulting in death, leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death and reckless homicide.
"Wilkes was already being held on additional charges from another agency and was detained in the Dorchester County Detention Center," SCHP officials said Thursday night.
The Dorchester County Coroner's Office says 45-year-old William Alexander Sigman of Ridgeville died at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday on Dorchester Road at Highway 17-A.
A report by the coroner's office states Sigman was in a Porche SUV traveling east on Dorchester Road, and his wife was ahead of him in a pickup truck.
Authorities say a stolen vehicle driven by Wilkes crossed the median and hit Sigman's wife's truck in the rear driver side.
The coroner's office says Wilkes then hit William Sigman's SUV head-on.
Sigman died at the scene of the accident due to injuries he sustained in the collision.
South Carolina Highway Patrol officials say Wilkes also struck the tail end of a Volvo. The driver of that vehicle was transported to the hospital.
Investigators say Wilkes ran from the scene and was later captured.
According to the Summerville Police Department, the whole incident started when officers investigated a burglary on Black Oak Boulevard in the Gahagan subdivision where a Ford Truck was stolen.
Shortly after the truck was stolen, police say Wilkes was involved in the multi-vehicle accident on Highway 17-A which resulted in Sigman's death.
A report states that after the collision, the suspect fled the scene but was subsequently located and arrested.
Summerville police officials say their office is charging Wilkes with first-degree burglary.
According to SPD, multiple agencies are involved in the investigation.
Wilkes was transported to the hospital and was released to authorities Thursday night.
Friends say Sigman was a "great man" who belonged to an "amazing family."
"Anyone that knew him, loved him," a friend said.
Source :
SCHP charges man with reckless homicide in fatal multi-vehicle wreck in Summerville