Gray Court woman dies in single-vehicle crash

A Gray Court woman became the third person to die in a collision on Laurens County roads in less than two weeks late Wednesday night, after her car went into a culvert about a mile from her home.

Laurens County Coroner Nick Nichols said Jacqueline Hudgens, 46, of Sawmill Road in Gray Court was pronounced dead at the scene of the collision on Sawmill Road, about a 1.25 miles from her home, just after 11:30 Wednesday night.

According to South Carolina Highway Patrol LCpl. Tony Keller, Hudgens was driving east on Sawmill Road in a 2003 Nissan when she went off the left side of the road and struck a ditch. Keller said Hudgens was wearing a seatbelt and was not ejected or entrapped in the vehicle.

Nichols said it appears Hudgens’ car went airborne after striking the ditch, causing her car to flip over and land upside down in a culvert approximately 4-5 feet deep.

He said Hudgens died of blunt force trauma to the head and neck.