Man charged with leaving scene of fatal car accident
An Orangeburg man has been charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident Friday night.
Austin Carl Floyd, 22, of eight hundred eighty five Cannon Bridge Road, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. Orangeburg County Magistrate Meree Williamson set Floyd’s bond at $20,000 surety on Monday.
In his arrest warrant, officials say Floyd was driving a one thousand nine hundred eighty eight Chevrolet van on Cannon Bridge Road when he knowingly struck a pedestrian, 42-year-old David T. Betts of Cordova. Floyd made no attempt to suggest assistance to the victim and left the scene, the warrant alleges. Betts died as a result of the collision.
Floyd’s attorney, Gerald Davis, requested that Williamson set a $Five,000 surety bond, telling that his client has lived in Orangeburg all of his life and has strong ties to the community.
“And he turned himself in the very next morning, your honor,” Davis said. “The police didn’t have to go looking for him. He came in willingly.”
Betts’ wifey and brother-in-law were in the courtroom and spoke to the judge before bond was set.
“I don’t understand why he didn’t attempt to help my spouse,” Laura Betts said in a tearful prayer. “I don’t understand how he could just leave him out there,”
James Rispoly said, “He took my brother-in-law’s life and he should be penalized. I think a $Five,000 bond in this case is ridiculous.”
Williamson explained, “The purpose of setting bond is not to determine guilt or innocence.”
“I have to consider whether he will be a flight risk or whether he is dangerous to the community,” she said.
She set bond with the condition that Floyd have no contact with the Betts family.
Betts was one of three people to die on Orangeburg County roads this weekend, and thirteen to die on South Carolina roads.
On Friday afternoon, 64-year-old Nancy Ellen Culler Player died in a single-vehicle collision on U.S. Highway 301. During the early morning hours Saturday, Yoursheka Flonosha Salley, 20, of Orangeburg, died when her vehicle ran off the road on U.S. Highway twenty one near Rowesville.
There were thirty seven deaths on Orangeburg County roads inbetween Jan. One and Aug.13 this year, compared to thirty four during the same period last year and twenty six the year before, according to the S.C. Department of Public Safety.
In Bamberg County, there have been three road deaths this year, compared to five during the same period in two thousand five and six during the same period in 2004. In Calhoun County, there have been nine deaths so far this year, compared to eight during the same period in two thousand four and 2005.