OFFICIALS TRYING TO
I.D. WOMAN KILLED IN FIERY MERCER COUNTY CRASH
By late Wednesday
night, Mercer County officials were still trying to identify a woman killed in
a fiery single vehicle crash from earlier in the day.
JUNE 24, 2015
MERCER COUNTY, KY
The wreck happened on Bohon Road near Mt. Pleasant Road, just outside of Harrodsburg. Both lanes of Bohon Road were shut down for hours, after investigators said a woman somehow lost control of her car.
"Here she comes over the hill, and she was running better than 55 (mph). And then I start back weed eating, and I heard a big POW," said Kevin Sallee.
Sallee was doing yard work when a horrible scene unfolded feet away, at around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. The Mercer County Sheriff's Department said a young woman driving a Chevy Impala somehow lost control of the car in front of a bridge.
"She hit the guardrail before you get to the bridge, and I happened to turn around and she was headed to the others side of the bridge," said Sallee.
Sallee said the woman was speeding and nearly missed an oncoming car, before over-correcting once again and hitting a tree head on. At that point witnesses said the car quickly went up in flames and there wasn't much they could do to help.
"It just starts smoking real bad, and I said, oh please get her out," said Sallee.
Witnesses drenched the car with water, however they couldn't stop the fire. While emergency crews did their best when they arrived, it was sadly too late.
"It's just terrible for her, for the family," said Jacob Long, who lives nearby.
Neighbors, such as Long, heard the news as they took detours home to avoid the closed stretch of the road.
"He said the accident happened at around 1:30 p.m. I believe. And I pulled up at around 4 p.m. and traffic was still having to be redirected," said Long.
It's an area where Salle said he has seen his share of bad crashes. As he continues doing yard work near the road, he hopes this will be the last bad accident that happens.
"They need to slow down on this road," said Sallee.
The Mercer County Sheriff's Department said it's too early to know if there were other contributing factors in the crash.