The Greenville Police Department held a press conference today about the road rage incident on September 18th which critically injured a 13 year-old.
Authorities were able to re-piece the events of the accident through extensive investigation.
A PT Cruiser, driven by 56 year old Norman Earl Gardner, Jr. of Taylors, cut off a light-colored sedan on Rutherford Road.
The driver of the sedan blew his horn at the cruiser.
As both cars turned onto Pleasantburg Drive, Gardner aggressively tried to catch up with the sedan.
When he accelerated hard to cut off the sedan, he lost control of the vehicle.
Gardner was in the lane closest to the median when he tried to cut off the sedan.
He crossed two lanes, hit the curb and sidewalk, struck the victim, and also a telephone pole which snapped in half.
Investigators found Gardner was driving at 75 miles per hour at the time of the accident, over 30 miles over the speed limit.
Initial witnesses thought the sedan may have made contact with the PT Cruiser.
The driver of the sedan reports they did not know about the victim until they saw reports of the accident.
After discovering this, the driver of the sedan contacted officials and cooperated fully.
Investigators inspected his vehicle and found no damage at all.
Investigators concluded the accident was a direct result of Gardner driving aggressively and at high rate of speed.
Gardner is out on bond and has a court date set for October 17th.
A good Samartian provided care to the victim before first responders arrived.
The 13 year-old victim Welford Hallens was waiting for the bus with his sister when he was struck by Gardner's car.
He was flung into the road and was critically injured.
The sister was uninjured.
His family reports Hallens has a brain injury, a broken back and pelvis, a broken wrist, both kneecaps broken, multiple fractures in his neck, and cracked ribs.
The doctors estimate his recovery time will be at least one year.