02/07/2007

Associated Press

A McDowell County sheriff's deputy responding to a call set off a chain-reaction crash on Interstate 40 that left one person dead and at least five others injured.

The state Highway Patrol says the deputy, while driving east, collided with a vehicle, which hit another vehicle just east of Old Fort. The patrol says one person in the first vehicle was killed.

The deputy was taken to the hospital.

Helicopters sent from Asheville, Charlotte, Winston-Salem and Johnson City rushed victims to hospitals in McDowell, Asheville and Spartanburg, South Carolina.

The wreck follows a string of injuries and fatalities involving police in western North Carolina.

A McDowell County woman being pursued by Black Mountain police last week died from injuries sustained when she crashed into parked vehicles. A man fleeing police at speeds up to 125 miles per hour last December struck and seriously injured a man driving home from work near Asheville.

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Information from: The Asheville Citizen-Times, http://www.citizen-times.com