N.C. Driver Hits Back of FBI SUV, Touches Off a Multi-Vehicle Wreck

Dec. 9, 2011

One woman was airlifted to the hospital and two others, including an FBI agent, were treated after a wreck this afternoon on Interstate 485 in southwestern Mecklenburg.

Dec. 08--One woman was airlifted to the hospital and two others, including an FBI agent, were treated after a wreck this afternoon on Interstate 485 in southwestern Mecklenburg.

The wreck occurred just before noon on the outer loop of 485 near the Steele Creek Road exit, and shut down traffic for more than an hour.

Sgt. H. Dorty of the N.C. Highway Patrol said a woman in a pickup truck was attempting to pass another vehicle on the interstate when her car went off the road and struck the FBI agent's vehicle. Dorty said the agent's SUV was stopped, with its lights flashing, on the shoulder of the highway at the time of the accident.

Witnesses said the woman in the truck was driving at a high speed before the wreck. But Dorty said there were no skid marks on the scene, and authorities don't know for sure how fast she was driving.

The woman, whose name was not released, was trapped inside the truck and had to be freed by emergency crews. She had suffered a broken leg, among other injuries. A passenger in the truck was taken by ambulance to the vehicle.

The FBI agent also was being checked out at a local hospital, said Shelley Lynch, a public affairs specialist for the Charlotte division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

-- Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Davie Hinshaw contributed.