20-year-old who sped away from two law enforcement agencies killed in crash, coroner says

Noah Feit
·2 min read

A 20-year-old South Carolina man died early Tuesday morning when the motorcycle he was riding at a high-rate of speed to escape from law enforcement officers crashed, the Oconee County Coroner’s Office said.

West Union resident Nevan Matthew Hopkins died in the accident, Coroner Karl Addis said in a news release.

The single-vehicle collision happened at about 12:30 a.m., Addis said in a news release.

Hopkins was driving the motorcycle west on U.S. 76/U.S. 123/Sandifer Boulevard in the Seneca area, according to the release.

Hopkins was speeding and a South Carolina Highway Patrol trooper attempted to pull over the motorcycle, Addis said. The traffic stop failed as Hopkins accelerated and the trooper abandoned the chase, according to the release.

Shortly after that, an Oconee County sheriff’s deputy was driving toward Westminster and saw the motorcycle approaching from behind at a high rate of speed, Addis said. Like the trooper, the deputy tried to initiate a traffic stop but Hopkins continued driving at a high rate of speed and pulled away, according to the release.

After terminating the attempted traffic stop, the deputy soon discovered the motorcycle had crashed on East Main Street near South Hampton Street in Westminster, Addis said. That’s about 6 miles from where the trooper initiated the first chase.

Hopkins suffered blunt force chest and abdominal trauma and died at the scene at about 1 a.m., according to the release.

No other injuries were reported.

There was no word if Hopkins was wearing a helmet.

Information about what caused the crash was not available, but the collision is being investigated by the Greenville County Sheriff’s Department.

Through Sunday, 620 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2023, and 72 involved a motorcycle, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Last year, 1,091 people died in crashes in South Carolina, DPS reported.

At least five people have died in Oconee County crashes in 2023, according to DPS data. Last year, 16 deaths were reported in the county, DPS reported.