A local teenager is recovering from injuries sustained in a golf cart wreck that required her to be airlifted to WakeMed on Sunday.
On Oct. 6, around 6:30 p.m. Clinton Police Department officers responded with Sampson County EMS to Inverness Road, located within Coharie Country Club, to an accident involving a golf cart.
Clinton Police Chief Donald Edwards said officers learned that Hunter Bruce, 18, of Clinton, was operating a 2013 EZ-Go golf cart on East Arrowhead Drive.
”The initial investigation has shown Mr. Bruce was driving the golf cart along a curved portion of the road near Candlestick Court when his passenger, Savannah Westbrook, 16, also of Clinton, fell from the vehicle,” Edwards stated in response to the Independent’s inquiry.
“Investigators believe she was struck by the cart before it could stop,” the police chief attested. “EMS on the scene considered the injuries serious and transported Ms. Westbrook to Wake Med.”
While an update on Westbrook’s condition was not available at first, but Edwards said Monday that he learned that she had been treated and released. The case remains under investigation, the chief noted.
The exact injuries were not immediately known. Edwards said the initial report estimated the cart’s speed at about 20 mph. There are no City of Clinton ordinances specifically regulating golf carts on streets, so North Carolina General Statutes may apply.
Edwards said the case is still unfolding.