RICHMOND, Va. -- Ten people were killed in Virginia crashes over the four-day Labor Day weekend from August 30 to September 2, according to Virginia State Police. The crashes were reported in Bedford, Caroline, Floyd, Henrico, Henry, Montgomery, and Northampton counties and the city of Lynchburg.
“We continue to be on an unsustainable pace for traffic fatalities,” Virginia State Police Colonel Gary Settle said. “As the year winds down, we cannot stress enough the need for people to slow down, to buckle up, to place their complete focus on driving, and to drive sober.”
Virginia State Police provided the following updates on the crashes:
Caroline County - William Bryon Gilman
At approximately 1:30 p.m. on Friday, August 30, 2024, Virginia State Police responded to eastbound Route 207 near the 3-mile marker for a report of a male that was crushed between two vehicles.
William Bryon Gilman, 83, of Ashland, Va., was driving a duelly F-350 pickup on Route 207 eastbound and was being followed by a flatbed tractor-trailer that was hauling construction equipment. The driver of the flatbed noticed the door of the equipment had opened, so both vehicles pulled to the shoulder to fix it. William Gilman was standing between both vehicles when the F-350 rolled backwards, crushing him between them.
Gilman was transported to the hospital where he succumbed to injuries. This remains under investigation.
Henrico County - Mkayla Emani Harris
At approximately 3:02 p.m., on Sunday, September 1, 2024, a 2006 Ford Focus, driven by Mkayla Emani Harris, 24, of Richmond Va., was traveling southbound on Interstate 95 at the 84-mile marker in Henrico County.
Harris was in the center lane and on her phone, got distracted, and ran off the road to the left, overcorrected, and struck the embankment which caused the vehicle to overturn multiple times and eject her from the vehicle. She was not wearing a seatbelt and succumbed to injury at the scene. This crash remains under investigation.
Northampton County - Arthur Wilmer Smith and Susan Alice Smith
The preliminary investigation has revealed that the driver of a 2022 Toyota Rava was traveling northbound at Lankford Highway/Route 13 at Stumptown Drive, on Sunday, September 1, 2024, and ran off the roadway, striking a ditch and a culvert, before catching on fire and becoming fully engulfed.
Both driver and passenger became entrapped inside the vehicle.
The driver, 79-year-old Arthur Wilmer Smith, and his wife, 77-year-old Susan Alice Smith, of Norristown, Pennsylvania, both succumbed to their injuries.
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