Sumter woman charged in fatal N.C. crash

By JASON WERMERS
Item Staff Writer
jwermers@theitem.com

A Sumter woman has been charged after a Greyhound bus she was driving ran a red light in North Carolina and struck a pickup truck, killing the truck's driver, police said.

Catherine Lorraine Lytch, 60, of 1065 Dyson Court, was charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle and failure to stop for a red light, according to the Goldsboro Police Departmente.

Police gave this account: A greyhound bus traveling east on U.S. 70 ran a red light and struck a Mazda pickup truck that had entered the intersection from the off-ramp of Interstate 795 in Goldsboro, about 64 miles southeast of Raleigh. Lytch told police she saw the light turn red but was not able to stop before entering the intersection.

The pickup truck was attempting to turn left onto U.S. 70 from the I-795 off-ramp when it was hit by the bus, police said. A police report says evidence at the crash scene indicates that the bus did not apply brakes before the impact because there were no skid marks.

As a result of the crash, the driver, Leroy James Scofield, 62, of Thomasville, N.C., was ejected and was pronounced dead at the scene. Scofield was not wearing a seatbelt, police said.

About 26 passengers were on the bus, and two of them were taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro for treatment and later released.