South Carolina DRIVER DIES IN EARLY MORNING CRASH on Cainhoy Road, Investigation Underway

A South Carolina man was killed in a recent car accident, according to the Berkeley County Coroner’s Office.

Emilio R. Hernandez, a 22-year-old St. Stephen resident, died last Saturday in what Coroner Darnell Hartwell described as an accident.

Master Trooper Gary Miller of the South Carolina Highway Patrol said that the single-vehicle crash occurred around 6:30 a.m.

Hernandez was driving a 2002 GMC Denali west on Cainhoy Road, authorities said. That’s in the Huger region, close to the Cooper River and roughly 27 miles from Charleston.

According to Miller, the SUV raced off the right side of Cainhoy Road at the intersection with Cedar Hill Lane, overturned, and crashed.

Hernandez was transferred to a nearby hospital, where he died, and officials of the coroner’s office arrived around 8 a.m., Hartwell reported.

Miller stated that Hernandez was the only person in the SUV, and no further injuries were reported.

There was no information on whether Hernandez was wearing a seat belt.

The cause of the SUV’s deviation off the road was unknown, but Hartwell said his agency and the Highway Patrol are looking into the accident.

According to the state Department of Public Safety, 817 people have died on South Carolina roadways as of Sunday in 2024. According to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, 1,030 persons were killed in collisions last year.

DPS data show that at least 27 individuals died in Berkeley County collisions in 2024.

Reference: 22-year-old South Carolina man killed in early-morning crash, coroner says