Woman killed in car-truck collision

MOUNT PLEASANT -- A woman died and a man was injured after a car slammed head-on into a tractor-trailer on U.S. Highway 17 near S.C. Highway 41 early Wednesday, officials said.

Mary Dew, 42, of Myrtle Beach died as a result of blunt trauma injuries, Charleston County Deputy Coroner Brittney Martin said.

A car was traveling north in the southbound lanes of U.S. 17 about 2 a.m. when it struck the semi heading in the opposite direction, S.C. Highway Patrol Cpl. Paul Brouthers said.

Dew was a passenger in the car. She was transported to a hospital where she died, the deputy coroner said. The driver of the car, Ricky Bostic, 49, of Myrtle Beach was taken to Medical University Hospital, Brouthers said.

A Mount Pleasant police officer first approached the car at 1:42 a.m. at the Kangaroo gas station at 2846 U.S. 17 because it had been parked there for more than an hour, according to an incident report.

The officer asked the driver if everything was OK, and the driver responded that "We are getting everything worked out," the report said.

The woman in the passenger seat was crying. She told the officer that she recently had surgery that nearly killed her, according to the report.

The driver then put the car in reverse and inched back, the report said.

The officer told him to stop, but he rolled up his window and abruptly backed up, nearly striking the officer's legs, according to the report.

The officer wrote that he didn't think the driver intentionally tried to strike him, but he ignored his commands to stop.

The car screeched its tires and turned south on U.S. 17, the report says.

The officer radioed to dispatch a description of the car and the direction it was heading. As he got inside his car, the officer saw another patrol car with its lights on heading south on U.S. 17. The second officer radioed that the car had struck a tractor-trailer.

Capt. Stan Gragg said the car went southbound on U.S. 17 when it saw the patrol car approaching from behind and did a U-turn shortly before crashing into the semi while heading northbound. The truck driver was not hurt.

Bostic does not have a previous criminal history in South Carolina, according to the State Law Enforcement Division.

U.S. 17 was closed for more than five hours following the wreck.

David W. MacDougall contributed to this report. Reach Andy Paras at 937-5589 or on twitter at twitter.com/andyparas.