One dead, one seriously injured in motorcycle collision involving a deer on Hwy. 378 west of Lexingt

Lake Murray, (Paul Kirby) – One person is dead, and another is seriously injured after a motorcycle crash just before noon Saturday. A group of motorcyclists were riding near the Jake Knotts bridge on Hwy. 378 west of Lexington when a deer dashed out in front of one bike making it go down according to a citizen who saw the accident and stopped to render aid. That person said there were two adult riders on that motorcycle and both were thrown from the bike.

According to a good Samaritan’s wife, her husband started CPR on one rider that was in cardiac arrest. Another civilian was on the scene and assisted. The surviving rider was in serious condition with what is being described as major injuries. A Lexington County EMS crew treated the viable patient on the scene before transporting that person by ground to Lake Murray Baptist Church. That patient was then loaded onto a medical helicopter to be transported to the region’s trauma center in Columbia.

This is the fifth fatal wreck in Lexington County in the last ten days. The members of Lexington County’s emergency response family are still reeling from the loss of one of their own in a collision Friday. Fire Apparatus Operator Paul Quattlebaum, a 22-year veteran of the fire service, died after being struck by a semitruck on the scene of a an accident. Quattlebaum and his partner stopped at that wreck when they drove up on it while enroute to a medical call.

Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher will release the name of the victim who was killed once their family has been notified. The SC Highway Patrol will oversee the traffic portion of the investigation.