Driver killed when pickup truck crashed into tree, SC Highway Patrol says

A man was killed Saturday when the pickup truck he was driving crashed into a tree, South Carolina officials said.

Francisco Candido-Aviles, a 49-year-old Newberry resident, died in the accident, Aiken County Coroner Darryl Ables said.

The single-vehicle collision happened at about 1:15 p.m. in Aiken County, according to Lance Cpl. Lena Butler of the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

Candido-Aviles was driving a 2012 Chevrolet Silverado pickup north on Ascauga Lake Road, and near the intersection with Sleepy Hollow Lane the truck ran off the left side of the road, Butler said. That’s in the Graniteville area, about 4 miles from Exit 5 on Interstate 20.

The Chevy hit a tree and Candido-Aviles died at the scene, according to Ables.

Butler said Candido-Aviles was the only person in the pickup, and no other injuries were reported.

There was no word if Candido-Aviles was wearing a seat belt.

Information about what caused the Chevy to veer off the road was not available, but the crash remains under investigation by the Highway patrol and coroner’s office. Toxicology analysis is pending, Ables said.

Fatal crashes in Aiken County

This is at least the third person who has died following an Aiken County crash in the past week.

About 12 hours earlier on Saturday, at 1:50 a.m., a Georgia man died when the Chevy pickup truck he was driving crashed into a tree, according to the coroner’s office.

On July 31, a 60-year-old Aiken man died days after the tractor trailer he was driving rolled over while entering Interstate 20, the coroner’s office said.

Through July 30, 577 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2023, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Last year, 1,091 people died in crashes in South Carolina, DPS reported.

At least 23 people have died in Aiken County crashes in 2023, according to DPS data. Last year, 29 deaths were reported in the county, DPS reported.