Phenix City, AL : Salem man, 33, killed in a single-vehicle crash on Lee Road 175 near Phenix City on Sunday night, April 17, 2016

A 33-year-old man died Sunday night in a single-vehicle Salem crash on Lee Road 175, nearly 15 miles west of Phenix City, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

Authorities said Rashaad Derell Hodge of Salem was driving his 2000 Pontiac Bonneville when the vehicle left the roadway traveling north on Lee Road 175 at a high rate of speed and struck several trees, overturning and ejecting him from the vehicle. He was killed instantly from multiple blunt-force impact injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene by Lee County Coroner Bill Harris at 10:55 p.m.

He wasn’t wearing a seat belt during the incident, officials confirmed.

No further information about the wreck is available as the Alabama State Troopers continue to investigate.

Hodge’s older sister Ieisha said he didn’t have any children of his own but treated her two kids like they were his own.

“He was an excellent uncle,” she said of her only sibling. “To know him was to love him.”

Katrina Hodge, the victim’s cousin, said she felt the same about Rashaad, who she described as a giving person with a heart of gold.

“I never saw him upset a day in my life,” she said. “He was always smiling.”

Source :
Salem man, 33, killed in Sunday night crash near Phenix City